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American Morning
"Tomb Raider" Tops Weekend Box Office
Aired June 18, 2001 - 11:39 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.
LAURIN SYDNEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Angelina Jolie's Lara Croft raided tombs and movie theaters this weekend, taking in an estimated $48.2 million.
And here to tell us more about the weekend's big box office is "Hollywood Reporter"'s online columnist, Mr. Marty Grove.
Almost $50 million -- explain it to me.
MARTIN GROVE, "HOLLYWOOD REPORTER": Big bucks.
Angelina Jolie brought them in. And "Tomb Raider," Laurin, buried the competition, clearly, at the box office. However, watching these numbers over the weekend, Saturday was down from Friday -- not a good sign -- down 5, 6 percent.
Usually, films go up. Now, the heat of opening day was huge on Friday. So, of course, you know, that's part of a reason. Some people say it was the reviews that kept adults away. Adults are the big audience Saturday night. People said: Why did Paramount show the movie? They knew it wasn't going to get good reviews. It had some of the worst reviews of the year. Nonetheless, $48 million means we can project $140-$150 million. So "Tomb Raider" will be very happy.
SYDNEY: Laughing all the way to the bank.
GROVE: Absolutely.
SYDNEY: Marty, "Atlantis": Did it open underwater?
GROVE: Well, it made big waves. It got $20 million-plus worth of waves. Disney says they're very happy. They say $20 million was their target to open this picture. It's an animated feature. It played very well to males -- under 21, in particular.
Now, in the case of "Atlantis," to open to $20 on a weekend when "Tomb Raider" opens to $48 million, well, you know, that's pretty good numbers because that's a lot of business between the two films.
SYDNEY: Indeed.
And my fave "Shrek" still going strong.
GROVE: "Shrek" did almost $13 million. It's holding up just great. It's got about $198 million already. It's going to go to $250, maybe as far as $270 million. It depends how long into the summer it can play. But it's done great. And it has established DreamWorks, Laurin, as a major force in animation -- and Jeffrey Katzenberg -- one of the partners in DreamWorks, the one who specializes in animation and was a big, big force at Disney in animation before he left to go to DreamWorks -- that Jeffrey Katzenberg clearly a star.
SYDNEY: And speaking of stars, because you are such a Hollywood insider, you got to see a film that I am chomping at the bit to see: "A.I." What did you think?
GROVE: Well, right. Well, I'll tell you, it is time to talk about "A.I.," Laurin, and that is because our friends at Warner Bros. sent out this wrist watch promoting "A.I." -- and the logo on there, of course, very famous now from all the advertising and marketing they are doing.
But this picture is a terrific movie. I loved it. It's Stanley Kubrick -- his fingerprints are all over it. And Steven Spielberg, of course, wrote it and directed it, the first film that he has written since 1977, when he wrote "Close Encounters."
This movie, "A.I.," will be a nominee for best picture, director, adapted screenplay -- that's Spielberg, of course. Haley Joel Osment, who is the central star, give him a Golden Globe and Oscar nomination for sure.
SYDNEY: Give it to him now.
GROVE: Absolutely. He was...
SYDNEY: Who is the audience for this? Are kids going to see it?
GROVE: Not young, young kids, no, because this is a serious, complex story. I was talking to Kathy Kennedy, one of producers of the film the other day.
And I said to her, "You know, this is a movie that gives you food for thought." And she said, "Yes, it's picture you can talk about at dinner afterwards." How few of those are there?
SYDNEY: Hardly any. And how few are these, because I left my watch at home today?
(LAUGHTER)
GROVE: Oh. Well, be my guest.
SYDNEY: OK, I am not allowed to take it, but thank you for the offer, Marty.
(LAUGHTER)
GROVE: OK.
SYDNEY: Thank you so much. We'll see you next time, Marty.
GROVE: Great.
SYDNEY: Tragedy at the home of a rock star and happiness in the home of a talk show host -- those stories when "Showbiz Today Reports" continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SYDNEY: The death of a 4-year-old boy at the home of rock star Tommy Lee over the weekend has been ruled an accident. An autopsy was performed after Daniel Karven Veres drowned in Lee's swimming pool on Saturday. The victim was attending a birthday party at the musician's Malibu, California home. The boy's father told an L.A. radio station that more adults should have been hired to supervise the kids and called his son's death -- quote -- "inexcusable."
On a much happier note, daytime talker Kelly Ripa has had her baby. Ripa called in to her talk show, "Live With Regis and Kelly," to announce that she gave birth to a girl named Lola Grace Consuelos. She added that, with a name like that, her daughter will probably -- quote -- "jump out of cakes for a living."
Ripa originally was going to take only one month's maternity leave, but she now says she might ask for more time because her new daughter is -- quote -- "cuter than we anticipated" -- end quote.
And speaking of parenting, later today we will talk to the always interesting and unique Angelina Jolie about her No. 1 film "Tomb Raider," her unconventional marriage to Billy Bob Thornton. And she gets a surprise visit from dad Jon Voight. That is in our 2:30 p.m. "Showbiz Today Report."
Until then, in Hollywood, I'm Laurin Sydney.
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