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CNN Live Today

Movie Hits

Aired February 16, 2004 - 10:47   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: The romantic comedy "50 First Dates" won over hearts at the box office on this Valentine's weekend. It's an Adam Sandler, Drew Barrymore comedy. It raked in $44 million in its first weekend.
Here to talk about the hot movies right now, the Oscars, the whole bit, Leah Rozen, film critic with "People" magazine. Good morning, good to have you here with us.

LEAH ROZEN, FILM CRITIC, "PEOPLE": Thank you.

KAGAN: Looks like a cute movie, in the trailer, "50 First Dates." Is it fun? Is it cute?

ROZEN: It's cuter than most Adam Sandler movies, let me say that.

KAGAN: Well it has Drew Barrymore.

ROZEN: Exactly. And that's the magic here. She is so good that she carries the sweetness of the film and her performance is real.

I think people are fans of their's. It's been six years since "Wedding Singer" when they last teamed together, which also came out Valentine's Day weekend. So people turned out.

What's interesting about the numbers this weekend was more than half of the attendees were women, and Adam Sandler's fans are normally men. And almost half of the audience was over 25. And the audience for his films tends to be teenage boys.

KAGAN: Interesting.

Now, I don't think we could pick a movie completely on the other end of the spectrum from "50 First Date." "The Passion," which is Mel Gibson's huge historical movie that he's coming out with. It comes out a week from Wednesday on Ash Wednesday. He says it's a true historical depiction of the crucifixion of Christ. It's been a long time since we've seen such a controversial film.

ROZEN: Yes, this is -- it's the last -- I mean a lot of films about Jesus, sort of "The King of Kings," "The Greatest Story Ever Told," do the whole life of Christ.

What Mel Gibson is doing in this film, which he financed himself to the tune of $25 million, is just the last 12 or 11 hours of Christ's life, with then some flash backs to what happened. But the keynote here is apparently -- I haven't seen the film yet. I'm seeing (UNINTELLIGIBLE) -- is how violent, violent it is. The film is rated R.

KAGAN: Well, and some say anti-semitic as well, but I guess on it depends on who goes to see the movie.

(CROSSTALK)

ROZEN: ... whether indeed the Jews take the blame for killing Christ.

KAGAN: Right. And there's been such a fire storm over this. I just wonder once the movie finally comes out, is it going to do something or do you think it's going...

ROZEN: Well, I think it's going to do tremendous business. It is opening at 2,000 theaters. Church groups have been buying tickets in large, large blocks. Initially it will do huge business.

But often when these films come out, for example, Martin Scorsese's "Last Temptation of Christ," there's all this controversy and the film opens and no one cares.

KAGAN: So we'll see how that one plays out.

We're all looking for the Oscars. The Academy moved them up by about a month this year. February 29, Leap Year. And we saw the BAFTAs last night out of London. I don't know if those will really be an indicator. Oscar ballots are still open until February 24.

ROZEN: They're still out there. You're going have the SAG awards a week from now. And then you have Oscars, the shorter campaign season and ABC gets into sweeps month...

KAGAN: There's that. They're claiming that's just a coincidence.

ROZEN: Just a little consideration. But I think you're looking at a "Lord of the Rings" sweep. I mean the smart money is basically saying "Lord of the Rings," "Lord of the Rings," "Lord of the Rings" because the film didn't win many awards for its previous two ones...

KAGAN: Like they've been waiting.

ROZEN: They've been saving it up for this one. So at least best film and probably best director for Peter Jackson.

KAGAN: I think interesting twist as you watch these nominations. Three of the best picture nominations, "Lord of the Rings," "Master and Commander" and "Seabiscuit." No acting nominations for those films.

ROZEN: This was a year that -- where there's so many other strong performances elsewhere. And of course like "Master and Commander" you had, what's his name? KAGAN: Russell Crowe.

ROZEN: Russell Crowe, who's been nominated before. He's won before. So I think they're sort of looking to distribute the wealth.

KAGAN: Now if you were just counseling a friend and they're getting ready for Oscars...

(CROSSTALK)

ROZEN: ... office betting pool?

KAGAN: No, not just office betting pool but if I haven't seen anything and they are just going to see couple movies before the Oscars, what would you tell them to see?

ROZEN: Go see "Mystic River," "Lost in Translation." And see just a terrific little film called "In America."

KAGAN: My personal favorite for the year.

Thank you so much, Leah Rosin from "People" magazine. We'll have you on after Oscars to see how it all plays out.

Appreciate it.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired February 16, 2004 - 10:47   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: The romantic comedy "50 First Dates" won over hearts at the box office on this Valentine's weekend. It's an Adam Sandler, Drew Barrymore comedy. It raked in $44 million in its first weekend.
Here to talk about the hot movies right now, the Oscars, the whole bit, Leah Rozen, film critic with "People" magazine. Good morning, good to have you here with us.

LEAH ROZEN, FILM CRITIC, "PEOPLE": Thank you.

KAGAN: Looks like a cute movie, in the trailer, "50 First Dates." Is it fun? Is it cute?

ROZEN: It's cuter than most Adam Sandler movies, let me say that.

KAGAN: Well it has Drew Barrymore.

ROZEN: Exactly. And that's the magic here. She is so good that she carries the sweetness of the film and her performance is real.

I think people are fans of their's. It's been six years since "Wedding Singer" when they last teamed together, which also came out Valentine's Day weekend. So people turned out.

What's interesting about the numbers this weekend was more than half of the attendees were women, and Adam Sandler's fans are normally men. And almost half of the audience was over 25. And the audience for his films tends to be teenage boys.

KAGAN: Interesting.

Now, I don't think we could pick a movie completely on the other end of the spectrum from "50 First Date." "The Passion," which is Mel Gibson's huge historical movie that he's coming out with. It comes out a week from Wednesday on Ash Wednesday. He says it's a true historical depiction of the crucifixion of Christ. It's been a long time since we've seen such a controversial film.

ROZEN: Yes, this is -- it's the last -- I mean a lot of films about Jesus, sort of "The King of Kings," "The Greatest Story Ever Told," do the whole life of Christ.

What Mel Gibson is doing in this film, which he financed himself to the tune of $25 million, is just the last 12 or 11 hours of Christ's life, with then some flash backs to what happened. But the keynote here is apparently -- I haven't seen the film yet. I'm seeing (UNINTELLIGIBLE) -- is how violent, violent it is. The film is rated R.

KAGAN: Well, and some say anti-semitic as well, but I guess on it depends on who goes to see the movie.

(CROSSTALK)

ROZEN: ... whether indeed the Jews take the blame for killing Christ.

KAGAN: Right. And there's been such a fire storm over this. I just wonder once the movie finally comes out, is it going to do something or do you think it's going...

ROZEN: Well, I think it's going to do tremendous business. It is opening at 2,000 theaters. Church groups have been buying tickets in large, large blocks. Initially it will do huge business.

But often when these films come out, for example, Martin Scorsese's "Last Temptation of Christ," there's all this controversy and the film opens and no one cares.

KAGAN: So we'll see how that one plays out.

We're all looking for the Oscars. The Academy moved them up by about a month this year. February 29, Leap Year. And we saw the BAFTAs last night out of London. I don't know if those will really be an indicator. Oscar ballots are still open until February 24.

ROZEN: They're still out there. You're going have the SAG awards a week from now. And then you have Oscars, the shorter campaign season and ABC gets into sweeps month...

KAGAN: There's that. They're claiming that's just a coincidence.

ROZEN: Just a little consideration. But I think you're looking at a "Lord of the Rings" sweep. I mean the smart money is basically saying "Lord of the Rings," "Lord of the Rings," "Lord of the Rings" because the film didn't win many awards for its previous two ones...

KAGAN: Like they've been waiting.

ROZEN: They've been saving it up for this one. So at least best film and probably best director for Peter Jackson.

KAGAN: I think interesting twist as you watch these nominations. Three of the best picture nominations, "Lord of the Rings," "Master and Commander" and "Seabiscuit." No acting nominations for those films.

ROZEN: This was a year that -- where there's so many other strong performances elsewhere. And of course like "Master and Commander" you had, what's his name? KAGAN: Russell Crowe.

ROZEN: Russell Crowe, who's been nominated before. He's won before. So I think they're sort of looking to distribute the wealth.

KAGAN: Now if you were just counseling a friend and they're getting ready for Oscars...

(CROSSTALK)

ROZEN: ... office betting pool?

KAGAN: No, not just office betting pool but if I haven't seen anything and they are just going to see couple movies before the Oscars, what would you tell them to see?

ROZEN: Go see "Mystic River," "Lost in Translation." And see just a terrific little film called "In America."

KAGAN: My personal favorite for the year.

Thank you so much, Leah Rosin from "People" magazine. We'll have you on after Oscars to see how it all plays out.

Appreciate it.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com