Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Sony Film "The Interview" Celebrates Christmas Day Release; Will "The Interview" Make Money for Sony?; Politics Top 10 Stories of the Year; U.S.: ISIS Didn't Shot Down Jordan's Plane

Aired December 25, 2014 - 09:00   ET

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


RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. I'm Randi Kaye in for Carol Costello. Thanks so much for joining me. Merry Christmas. Buon Natale, Feliz Navidad, around the world holiday celebrations are under way.

Take a look here. These are live pictures out of Bethlehem. Last night thousands of people traveled to the biblical birthplace of Jesus for midnight mass. Earlier today the Vatican, Pope Francis delivered his annual Christmas Day blessing. A beautiful ceremony as thousands of people filled St. Peter's Square.

And back here at home the nation's capitol is just waking up. You're looking at live pictures here of the White House. Earlier today, President Obama and the first lady wished Americans happy holidays and spent a special thanks to the troops.

Well, it is a bit of Hollywood history wrapped up in a Christmas miracle. After nearly being derailed by a North Korea cyber attack "The Interview" has made its debut.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES FRANCO, ACTOR, "THE INTERVIEW": Hello, North Korea.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: The James Franco-Seth Rogen comedy premiered online yesterday, available for download on YouTube, at the Google PlayStore, on Xbox and the Web. It is the first time a major motion picture has ever been made available online before its theatrical release.

The film dominated Twitter within minutes of hitting the Web with #theinterview trending across the country. The reviews, though, well, they were pretty mixed. One watcher tweeted, two thumbs up for "The Interview" movie, brilliant. Another with a little less complimentary saying this, 35 minutes in, wondering if I'll ever laugh again.

The president even took a break from the golf course to weigh in on its premiere.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Do you plan to watch "The Interview"?

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm glad it's being released. Merry Christmas, everybody.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.

OBAMA: You kids having fun?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sure.

OBAMA: That's good.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: The film star Seth Rogen and its producer celebrated the film's release last night popping up at a midnight screening at a West Hollywood, California, theater, to thank fans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SETH ROGEN, ACTOR, "THE INTERVIEW": We wanted to say thank you. If it wasn't for theaters like this and for people like you guys, this literally would not be happening right now.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

Thank you so much. We really appreciate it. And --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hope you like the movie.

ROGEN: Hope you like the movie.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: Rosa Flores is joining me live now in Lower Manhattan, in front of a theater, one of the few that is showing this film.

Rosa, what are you hearing on the street there?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, this film was supposed to show in 2,000 to 3,000 theaters around the country. We know now that that is not happening. Only about 300 independent theaters around the country will be showing this film, including this one, the one that you see behind me, it's Cinema Village in Manhattan.

Now take a look at this marquee because a lot of people didn't even think that the name of this movie would make a marquee, but here we are. It's being released in about 300 independent theaters. This particular theater has seven showings today. The first starts in less than an hour.

You can take a look, we've got a banner here, a movie poster that actually shows part of the movie. This wasn't here yesterday. They've been updating this as we go along because this is so new.

Now here's the other thing, so how much are people going to be paying for this movie? And it's right here, theater one "The Interview," all of the showings, adults pay $12. Now this is an independent theater. It's not used to big crowds, so what are they doing? They're bringing in extra staff. They've gotten calls and e-mails from the FBI. They've also gotten a visit from the NYPD.

Now here's what the NYPD gave them, something that we're going to see later on today here in this theater. A poster that says -- that gives people information about terrorism, what to look for in describing an individual that might be a suspect.

All of that happening behind the scenes so we asked the manager, so are you concerned about the showing of "The Interview"? Here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LES PETERSON, MANAGER, CINEMA VILLAGE: We're concerned as much as we should be. I think we all have a pretty healthy dose of realism, but also skepticism. Since there aren't any specific threats, we have nothing to really be afraid of. I honestly have a feeling that in a week it's all going to be forgotten and it will be business as usual.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FLORES: Now will it be business as usual? Of course they're going to see a lot of people today is what this indy theater is expecting, Randi, so we'll have to see now, of course, a lot of people will be watching this online, like you mentioned, some of the tweets that have been flowing around in social media, because a lot of people are actually just sitting on their couch watching it at home, and not even leaving their home on this Christmas -- Randi.

KAYE: Yes, it's going to be an interesting experiment to see if there are any lines there at that theater later on today.

Rosa Flores, thank you very much. Appreciate that.

Back in Hollywood, the CEO of Sony is thanking his employees, releasing a videotaped message on Christmas eve, thanking them for standing by the studio and "The Interview" movie.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL LYNTON, CEO, SONY ENTERTAINMENT: It has been a long and difficult road for us to get here, and I wanted to say how grateful I am to each and every one of you. We certainly had our setbacks but we never folded. We never stopped pursuing. It's why the release is possible. It was essential for our studio to distribute this movie especially given the assault on our business and on our staff. This release represents our commitment to our filmmakers and free speech.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: And now that the much talked about "Interview" has hit theaters and living rooms across the country we're getting our first look at some of the scenes that likely angered North Korea.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRANCO: You know, I'm very, very interested in the history of your young nation. I hear that absolutely everyone here is starving to death.

ROGEN: No.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's quite all right. This is a common misconception.

FRANCO: Oh, OK.

FRANCO: See for yourself. Oh, wow, it's a crunchy store. Looks like the Whole Foods around the corner from my place.

ROGEN: Yes, I guess no one's hungry here after all.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: The movie is also a test for YouTube, of course, which is getting its first shot at releasing a major motion picture on the Web.

Brian Stelter is following the story this morning for us.

I believe from your mother's living room, is that right, Brian?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I had to come home for Christmas, Randi, but, you know, me and my family -- my family and I all gathered last night, we watched "The Interview." We actually watched it through Xbox because there's three big ways you can watch it, through Xbox, through Google and YouTube and through Sony's own Web site, and it worked pretty well. The technology was pretty strong.

KAYE: And so what did you think? What are your reviews?

STELTER: You know, it's a silly comedy and I thought for a silly comedy it was worth $6. Sony was very smart, I think, to price this at a very low point online. It doesn't cost $20 or $30. It just costs $6 to rent it. So that way I think it's trying to appeal to as many people as possible and YouTube did pretty well. I mean, this is a big deal for YouTube. They've had movie rentals for two years but a lot of people haven't even known about it because they haven't had movies online at the same time they've been in theaters.

So "The Interview" might be a glimpse into the future, a preview of the day when maybe you can see movies at home at the same day you can see them in theaters.

KAYE: Yes. But it wasn't without missteps, right?

STELTER: Yes. On YouTube it worked pretty well but on one of the other Web sites that was hosting the movie, a brand new startup called Kernel, there were some problems in the beginning, too much traffic going to the Web site. They got it sorted out after a couple of hours. But it does go to show that this is new. This is new terrain for Hollywood, for the movie industry and for technology firms. I think we will see more of this in the future, but the big theater

chains do not want this to happen, and it was pointed out to me last night that this movie has already been pirated, it's already online available illegally now because it was put online legally for rent. That's the kind of tension in Hollywood as they're trying this new form of distribution.

KAYE: Well, listen, Brian, I know we're going to check in with you next hour. I'd like you to open all those presents that are over your shoulder and share with us later on what you got. OK? I'm very curious.

STELTER: It's old-fashioned copies of movies, Randi.

(LAUGHTER)

KAYE: I'm sure. I'm sure. All right. We'll talk -- we'll talk to you in a little bit. Thanks, Brian.

All right. So now that the movie is hitting the big screen, will it bring in the big bucks? That's the question. The movie cost about $44 million to make according to the Hollywood Web site TheRap. Marketing in the U.S. then ran up the tab another $35 million and then you can add in another $10 million for overseas, and we're talking about $90 million invested here.

So can Sony still make a profit with fewer theaters showing it and the new option we've been talking about of streaming it at home for even less than the cost of a single movie theater ticket?

CNN business correspondent Alison Kosik is here to talk about that.

So I guess Sony is looking for a little bit of a Christmas miracle early on here.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Kind of. I think they really are. I mean, think about it, $90 million to make and market this movie. Now mind you, they're getting free marketing with us spending, you know, 10, 15 minutes on our newscast talking about this. You know, that's publicity you just can't buy, but many analysts say good luck recouping that kind of investment.

Peter Kafka actually, he's a senior editor with Recode. I was reading, he said, "You can actually work out how many people you need to rent this thing to make it worthwhile." And he estimates you can rent it 16.7 million, you have 16.7 million rentals. That's only if the studio is getting 100 percent of the profits. That's not happening because these streaming sites like Google and YouTube and, you know, these other outlets that the distribution deals are being worked out with, they're also getting a cut of the deal.

So Sony is not going to be able to get 100 percent of the profits. At the same time, though, talking to Rosa Flores, you're seeing sold-out theaters. That's good news. Not the only place that sold-out here in New York. In Austin, Texas, for example, and several other theaters in Texas, at this indy theater, 17 Alamo Drafthouse theaters, they are sold-out for the Christmas weekend so that's good news, too.

The question is, is 300 theaters enough to try to get some revenue out of this? Probably not. However, the distribution most likely will continue to be worked out after Christmas.

I was reading that Sony could also wind up cutting a deal with Netflix that could widen the distribution as well.

KAYE: That would be something.

KOSIK: Yes.

KAYE: That would really be. I mean, you know, it's interesting because you hear a lot of theater owners who we've talked to, and they all say -- they're trying to encourage people to come to the theater because they say it's much more fun to watch a comedy in a crowd, you know, instead of sitting at home with your --

KOSIK: It's also kind of nice to sit on the couch.

KAYE: I agree.

KOSIK: You know, also remember, you know, they -- at one point Sony had its hands tied. This thing wasn't going to see the light of day. So I guess if you look at it glass half full, you know, any amount of revenue that they're making is going to chip away at how deep they're in on this movie.

KAYE: Right. And you never know if you go to the theater, Seth Rogen just might show up.

KOSIK: Maybe. That's the best --

KAYE: Grab that seat next to you. There you go.

Alison, thank you very much. Appreciate it.

If you're on the East Coast, there is just under 15 hours of Christmas left. So that means the month-long loop of Christmas songs is almost over. We hum along to all of them but which ones do we actually like?

Pandora tracked which ones get the most thumbs up and all hour long this morning we are counting down the top five. We start with "Sleigh Ride" coming in at number five.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is Chief Master Sergeant Nicole Shaliva (ph) at Air Base Qatar. Happy holidays and season greetings to my friends and family in Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia. I miss you all. Hope to see you soon. Take care, have a wonderful holiday season.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Today, our family will join millions across the country celebrating the birth of Jesus -- the birth not just a baby in a manger but a message that has changed the world, to reach out to the sick, the hungry, the troubled, and above all else, to love one another as we would be loved ourselves.

MICHELLE OBAMA, FIRST LADY: And we hope that this holiday season will be a chance for us to live out that message, to bridge our differences and lift up our family, friends and neighbors, and to reconnect with the values that bind us together. And as a country, that also means celebrating and honoring those who have served and sacrificed for all of us, our troops, veterans and their families.

BARACK OBAMA: In just a few days, our combat mission in Afghanistan will be over. Our longest war will come to a responsible end. And that gives us an opportunity to step back and reflect upon all that these families have given us. We're able to gather with family and friends because our troops are willing to hug theirs good-bye, and step forward to serve.

After a long day, with he can come home because they're willing to leave their families and deploy. We can celebrate the holidays because they're willing to miss their own.

MICHELLE OBAMA: And so as our troops continue to transition back home, back to our businesses, our schools, our congregations, our communities, it's up to all of us to serve them as well as they've served us. You can visit joingforces.gov to find out how you can honor and support the troops, veterans and military families in your communities. That's something we can do not only during the holiday season but all year round

BARACK OBAMA: So, merry Christmas, everybody. May God bless you all and we wish you and your family a happy and healthy 2015.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: President and Mrs. Obama wishing Americans happy holidays and spending special thanks to the troops there.

It was a challenging year for the president, attacked over a high profile prisoner exchange, blasted for the executive move on immigration, and watching his party lose control of the Senate.

Jake Tapper has those stories and more in our politics top ten.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Politics grabbed big headlines in 2014, with criticism and praise for the president's foreign policy, some stunning congressional dysfunction, and a crushing defeat for Democrats in the midterm elections.

Here are our top 10 political stories.

(voice-over): Number 10: 2014 offered a preview of what the 2016 presidential campaign might look and sound like as Hillary Clinton hit the road to promote her latest book. The media blitz and book tour looked a lot like a presidential candidate gearing up. Number nine: Republican incumbents kept feeling the heat from the Tea

Party which showed it isn't going anywhere.

CHRIS MCDANIEL (R), SENATE CANDIDATE: The conservative resurgence with this country starts right here in Mississippi.

TAPPER: A Tea Party campaign by Chris McDaniel nearly caused a long- time senator form Mississippi, Thad Cochran, his seat. The primary runoff created one of the strangest political coalitions of the year, Republican Cochran courting black Democrats in the Magnolia State to bail him out in the runoff.

SEN. THAD COCHRAN (R), MISSISSIPPI: This is your victory.

TAPPER: Cochran survived but others were not so lucky. The number two Republican in the House did not even make it to Election Day. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor lost his primary to this guy -- economics professor David Brat has in what may be the political upset of the decade.

REP. ERIC CANTOR (R), VIRGINIA: Obviously, we came up short.

TAPPER: Number eight: the U.S. does not negotiate with terrorists but we will do a prisoner swap. Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, the only U.S. prisoner of war in Afghanistan or Iraq was brought home after the U.S. traded five Taliban fighters from Guantanamo Bay for his release. The celebration had one huge footnote. Not everyone was thrilled with the exchange rate.

REP. PETER KING (R), NEW YORK: For the president to decide that these five hottest of the hard core in return for Sergeant Bergdahl at this stage I think was wrong.

TAPPER: Not to mention the administration broke the law by not giving Congress 30 days' notice.

Number seven: a fence jumper who sprinted across the White House lawn and let himself into the front door, exposed major security breaches with the Secret Service.

REP. JASON CHAFFETZ (R), UTAH: Don't let somebody get close to the president. Don't let somebody get close to his family.

JULIA PIERSON, SECRET SERVICE DIRECTOR: I take full responsibility.

TAPPER: The security gaps led Julia Pierson, the first female director of the Secret Service appointed after a frustration scandal to step down.

Number six: accusations that U.S. veterans died while waiting for treatment at Veterans Administration hospitals was a national embarrassment. A month-long CNN investigation showed altered death certificates and secret waiting lists.

OBAMA: I want to know the full scope of the problem. TAPPER: Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki was sacked from

his cabinet post after the scandal broke and the repairs to the broken system still seem to be a long way off.

Number five: President Obama's foreign policy under attack. An off- the-cuff phrase uttered by the president "don't do stupid stuff" was criticized by none other than former secretary of state Hillary Clinton as an inadequate defining principle.

The Israel-Gaza war, the civil war in Syria, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the prisoner swap for Alan Gross in Cuba, the president's foreign policy was criticized even by many Democrats as feckless.

Number four: 2014 marked another year of congressional gridlock on immigration reform. There was no greater example of the broken system than the thousands of unaccompanied children from Central America flooding across the Texas border. President Obama opted after the midterms to go it alone, using executive action in an attempt to reform the system. Critics call his actions unconstitutional.

Number three: any notion of America's first black president ushering in a post-racial era of healing got squashed. After white police officers in Missouri and New York killed unarmed black men, protesters around the country took to the streets.

Following the grand jury's decision not to indict Officer Darren Wilson for killing Michael Brown in Ferguson, President Obama delivered a speech urging calm.

OBAMA: So, we need to accept that this decision was the grand jury's to make.

TAPPER: And the split screen on your television showed the depth of the disconnect -- a city burned, and the president's pleas going up in smoke.

Number two: the U.S. went back into Iraq, this time to fight ISIS. Just a few months after President Obama dismissed the terrorist group as a jayvee squad, ISIS took huge swaths of land along the lawless Iraq and Syria border. The president finally changed his tune and ordered targeted attacks in Iraq and Syria against the terrorist group.

And the number one top political story of the year: on election night, it was a red wave as Republicans won control of the U.S. House and the Senate.

SEN. PAT ROBERTS (R), KANSAS: We crossed the finish line. We took the Hill.

(CHEERS)

TAPPER (on camera): The politics of 2015 might just look a lot like a giant stack of promises made in the race for the White House in 2016. We'll have to wait and see if a lame duck president can work it out with a deadlocked Congress. I'm Jake Tapper.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: And you can catch the top 10 of 2014 special with Brooke Baldwin on CNN Sunday evening, at 6:30 Eastern Time.

Checking top stories now:

At least six protesters are arrested in Berkeley, Missouri, on the day after Antonio Martin, a black 18-year-old, was shot to death. He had allegedly pointed a loaded pistol at a police officer. According to police, protesters attempted to break into a nearby store, smashing windows and doors. The crowd also staged a die-in while several hundred others shut down Interstate 170.

JetBlue is offering free flight for officers wishing to attend the funerals of two NYPD officers murdered last weekend. Two police officers from each department of the country will be allowed to fly to New York City at no charge. Officer Rafael Ramos will be laid to rest on Saturday in Queens. The services for Officer Wenjian Liu have not been finalized. The airline says it is working to bring Liu's family from China to New York.

One of America's most iconic cars is being called the worst. The Jeep Wrangler unlimited leads "Consumer Reports" worst value list, saying its, quote, "hard riding, ponderous, uncomfortable and unreliable." Now, if that wasn't enough, the Jeep cost 77 cents a mile to operate compared to 52 cents for the top rated Toyota Camry hybrid.

Well, hopefully, you're not tired of Christmas Carols yet, because all hour-long, we're counting down the top five most liked according to Pandora. Number four, "It's Beginning to Look a Lot like Christmas."

(MUSIC)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Hello and thanks for joining me. I'm Randi Kaye, in today for Carol Costello.

The U.S. is rejecting claims by ISIS that the terrorist group is responsible for shooting down a Jordanian military plane. The F-16 went down over the ISIS stronghold of Raqqa. That's in eastern Syria. It happened yesterday during a coalition air raid.

The plane's pilot was later captured and is now being held hostage by the militants. This morning, the pilot's family is pleading with ISIS for his release.

Let me bring CNN's Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr to talk more about this.

Barbara, so, are officials saying how they know that this plane wasn't shot down?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Randi.

Well, this is a part that's a mystery. Late yesterday, the top U.S. commander for the region, the head of the Central Command, General Lloyd Austin, who never speaks publicly, did issue a very public statement saying that it was certain that the plane was not shot down.

Now, they are not saying what did bring it down but they are adamant that ISIS is not telling the truth and that ISIS did not shoot the plane down, and the plane didn't come down by hostile fire.

So, this is a bit of a mystery, how it is they are so certain and what exactly did happen to this airplane. The family of the Jordanian pilot now coming out in public as well, very much pleading for his safety and his release. His brother speaking just several hours ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAWAD AL-KASASBEH, BROTHER OF JORDANIAN PILOT (through translator): I appeal to my brothers in the Islamic State state to have mercy upon my brother. If they search his clothes, they find a white Koran on the right arm of his military uniform that he's been carrying since 2006. I asked God to free him and bring mercy to the hearts of our brothers in the Islamic State and for them to have mercy on his parents.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: A father also speaking, his father, saying he did not want his son described as a hostage, but as a guest of the Islamic State, very much a reference to the Islamic tradition that everyone is a guest. So, a bit of an appeal that way.

Now, the U.S. also saying it will support any efforts for the recovery of this pilot and also saying that the Jordanians and the U.S. saying they hold ISIS responsible for his safety -- Randi.