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American Morning

Moviegoers Rush Out to Theaters to Catch Jackie Chan-Chris Tucker Sequel

Aired August 06, 2001 - 11:40   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.
MICHAEL OKWU, CNN ANCHOR: Moviegoers rushed out to the theaters this weekend to catch the Jackie Chan-Chris Tucker sequel, "Rush Hour 2."

Our box office analyst Marty Grove of "The Hollywood Reporter" is with us.

And, Marty, interesting weekend at the box office.

MARTY GROVE, "THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER": You know, Michael, they rushed to judgment, and it was judgment, hey's its. great movie, and almost $67 million. It's about $21,000-plus a theater. What that means, figure 4,000 people trying to get into a theater, every theater that's playing this movie. It was the biggest opening in New Line's history. It was the biggest August opening ever. And it was the biggest action-comedy opening ever. Needless to say New Line Cinema is thrilled, and they did a great marketing job as well.

OKWU: Now outside of "Pearl Harbor, no other movie this summer has actually stayed in the number one spot more than a week. Is that going to happen with "Rush Hour 2?"

GROVE: We're going to see a number of pictures coming in next weekend, Like "American Pie 2" from Universal, "Osmosis Jones" from Warner Bros., "The Others" from Miramax and Dimension. They could knock it out. But look, if this picture falls by 30 percent, it's going to do, what, close to $35 million, and it certainly will be a horse race. But I think that word of mouth will be very good on it, and Bret Ratner is a terrific director. I think that picture will have some legs.

OKWU: Now the film that I am still digesting from a couple of weeks ago, "The Planet of the Apes." Is it finally crashing back down into the Earth?

GROVE: You know, Michael, they say the bigger they are, the harder they fall. That's exactly what happened this week, off 58 percent, but that's normal, that's typical for this summer. The picture has done about $125 million so far. This weekend, it did about $28.5. Needless to say, Fox is happy. Hey, that's big money, in only 19 days.

OKWU: Let's talk about Julia Andrews. I always like to work her into a conversation, but now I have a reason to do it. "Princess Diaries" did pretty well this weekend.

GROVE: It did way better than anybody, including the folks at Walt Disney Studios expected. It opens to over $23 million. Now why? Clearly, it's a G-rated comedy. There are no G-rated comedies around. And it's live action, not animation. It's perfect for the family. It's wonderful entertainment. Julie Andrews is a big star, hasn't been on the screen in 15 years. Anne Hathaway, a brand-new star. And the other star, Gary Marshall, the director who directed "Pretty Woman" and Runaway Bride," and made a great film, and Disney did a great job of marketing it. So they are very, very happy. They thought this picture would open like "Parent Trap." It about half the business. The legs will be good. Ninety-one percent in the top two boxes, excellent and very good. That means word of mouth will carry it.

OKWU: Now quickly, somebody told me derisively, this is chick flick; it's not a movie for you. But you've got imagine with those kinds of numbers that people other than chicks went to check it out.

GROVE: Oh, yes. In fact, Disney was happiest that 23 percent of the audience over the opening weekend were teenagers, 12-17 years old. I mean, teenagers never go to a G-rated film. They run the other way. The word of mouth is going to really carry this, and they're going to have a broad-based film. G-rated films play forever.

OKWU: The movie on the top of my list for next weekend, "Apocalypse Now Redux." I don't know how it went this weekend. I don't know much about it, but you have some news for me.

GROVE: I do, indeed. Two theaters only, New York and L.A., $96,000 -- $48,000 a theater. I mean, they couldn't fit them in. Great reviews. I will have seen it. I went to the premiere in L.A. before I flew here. It is the best film of the year. I wish that it were eligible for an Oscar. It's not. It has 49 minutes of new material, but that's not quite enough to make it. I think it has to be 50 percent of new material, which is impossible, but it's a wonderful film. I would encourage everyone to see it. It's just great. It puts the whole Vietnam War into perspective. Coppola did a sensationally good job, and it's like looking into a windows 22 years ago. You look for Martin Sheen, and you see this guy who looks a lot like Charlie Sheen, and you say, oh yes, that must be Martin Sheen. Robert Duval has hair.

OKWU: Duval -- I just want him to go back and hear him say "I love the smell of napalm in the morning."

GROVE: Indeed.

OKWU: Guys, do you have any questions out of Atlanta.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, I want to jump in here.

Hi, Marty, it's Daryn and Leon down here in Atlanta.

I want to ask a timing question, especially with these kids films, with "The Princess Diaries" and "American Pie II" not even coming out until last week. These are traditional summer movies. And for a lot of kids, summer is almost over; they're going back to school. Why are they coming out so late.

GROVE: Well, you know, Daryn, Hollywood loves these last weeks of summer, the dog days of summer. Years ago, they were the dog movies that nobody believed in. But Hollywood realizes now, every night in the summer, is like Saturday night, and you play right through to Labor Day, and you've got everybody out there available. So Hollywood make the most of it. And business this weekend was up about 35 percent over last year. Hollywood is sizzling.

KAGAN: People getting bored. I understand that "Princess Diaries" is the only G-rated movie released this summer. That's incredible. That doesn't give a lot for people to take their kids, too.

GROVE: Well, you know, I talked to Gary Marshall, who directed, and Gary said to me, Disney called him originally and said, we want to make a G movie, but we really want it to be good, we want you to do it. And Gary said, you know, I never made a G movie, but he has two twin 6-year-old grandchildren, who actually are in the movie. And he said, I want to make a children my grandchildren could see, and he made a great movie.

KAGAN: You've got to love it when they say, I want to make a G movie, but we want it to be good. It shows you where Hollywood is thinking.

LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And, Michael, you brought the point up earlier about this movie maybe being a chick flick, I have to admit this, I don't know if he's going to get mad at me now for saying this. But my son says that he and his buddies want to go see this movie. They think that it's fun.

KAGAN: There you go. A kid flick. A kid flick.

OKWU: Sometimes you've got to listen to what your kids have to say.

HARRIS: There you go. Sometimes.

KAGAN: Not too often.

OKWU: Marty Grove, always a pleasure. Thank you very much.

GROVE: Thank you. Pleased to be here with you, Michael.

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