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American Morning
DVD Offers a Fun Aspect to Movie Watching
Aired September 03, 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.
COLLEEN MCEDWARDS, CNN ANCHOR: A little bit of entertainment news to talk about. Not all of it good.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, unfortunately the passing of a Hollywood heart throbs today in the news.
Bill Tush is checking in from New York. He's got that for us now. Bill?
BILL TUSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: All right, Leon and Colleen, thank you. Happy Labor day, everyone.
We are starting off on a sad note. Troy Donahue, the all- American teen pinup of the 1950s and 60s, who starred in teen romances like "A Summer Place," died Sunday of complications from a heart attack.
His role as Sandra Dee's young lover in that movie made him a teen matinee star. During his heyday, Donahue went on to star in teenage vacation romps including "Rome Adventure" and "Palm Springs Weekend." Donahue was 65 years old.
There's no guarantee, but Bob Hope's publicist says it looks like the comedian could be out of the hospital today. Hope has been recuperating from pneumonia at St. Joseph's Medical Center in Burbank, California.
The 98-year-old showbiz legend was admitted to the hospital last week after experiencing difficulty breathing. Doctors say he'll probably need several weeks to regain his strength.
Congratulations sent out to Anne Heche. The actress has married a camera man she met while working on a documentary about her ex- girlfriend Ellen Degenris. Heche and Coleman Laffoon were married at a hilltop villa in Los Angeles Saturday, at a ceremony attended by 75 friends and family members.
Heche's private life became very public when she and Degeneris started dating. After more than three years together, they announced in August of last year that they were breaking up.
When we return, we'll find out which movies scared up the most money at the weekend's box office. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TUSH: The holiday weekend may not be over yet, but we're going to look at the weekend's box office anyway.
"Jeepers Creepers" did frightfully well at the movies this weekend. The horror flick landed in the top spot, taking in an estimated $16.1 million. That's a new record for a Labor Day weekend opening.
Audiences are still rushing to see Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker in their karate-chop comedy, "Rush Hour 2." That sequel kicked it's way into the second spot, taking in $11.7 million.
And moviegoers are still hungry for "American Pie." That sequel took the third spot, earning an estimated $11.4 million.
While you may have to wait a while before catching those films on DVD, there are plenty of others out there to choose from. Last year alone, consumers spent over $3 billion buying DVD's, and more than half a million dollars renting them.
CNN's Laurin Hunter has more on the booming business of DVD's.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM HANKS, "FORREST GUMP" (on screen): You never know what you're going to get.
LAURIN HUNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Like the proverbial box of chocolates, the "Forrest Gump" DVD will contain some surprises when it hits stores this week.
HANKS (on screen): Sorry to interrupt your parade.
Forrest Gumps meets Martin Luther King, and he plays ping-pong with George Bush, Sr. So, to be able to provide movie lovers today with two new sequences where he meets world figures, we think it's a big plus and we think that the consumers are going to love it.
HUNTER: Last year, consumers spent $3.4 billion purchasing DVD's, and $573 million on DVD rentals. That's expected to increase this year as the number of homes with DVD players grows to 25 percent.
KEVIN COSTNER, "THIRTEEN DAYS" (on screen): A lot of things are going wrong today.
HUNTER: Uncoming titles such as "Thirteen Days" feature extras, including pop-up options. "Pearl Harbor"'s DVD version has 13 hours of bonus to it.
BOB CHAPEK, PRES., BUENA VISTA HOME ENT.: Everybody is getting involved in DVD. So we have to appeal to the broad audience, not just to the cinophiles (ph) who like behind the scene director commentary alone.
HUNTER: That's one reason why Barbra Streisand was recruited to sing for the upcoming DVD release of "Snow White And The Seven Dwarves."
CHAPEK: It's a much more broader experience. We have to recognize that and market to that fact.
HUNTER: And that marketing has become big business.
From the 5-day run on the Paramount studio lot to launch "Forrest Gump," to video store visuals for "Hannibal," to the fire and ice paring of "Total Recall" and "Basic Instinct." The interactivity of DVD's has even found its way to video stores.
ANTHONY DEEN, V.P. RETAIL DEVELOPMENT: This is Virgin's mega- play system, which allows you to scan up to 200,000 CDs, or 10,000 DVDs and preview them in the store, so you can try before you buy.
HUNTER: Consumers can view trailers, read reviews, or scan a film's production information. Business aside, "Godfather" director Francis Ford Coppola says it's the creativity behind the technology that will keep the people interested.
FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA, DIRECTOR: Art is not something like business that you just put A plus B and C, and you get what you wanted.
Creativity is putting things together that aren't normally associated with each other. And people watch it 25, 30 years later because it has life.
HUNTER: So DVD technology may just be an offer consumers can't refuse.
Laurin Hunter, CNN Entertainment News, Hollywood.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TUSH: Well, that's it for this "Showbiz Report," but join us later today at 2:35 p.m. eastern for the latest entertainment news.
In New York, I'm Bill Tush. Now we go back to Colleen and Leon in Atlanta.
HARRIS: All right. Bill, before we let you go, I mean if you're going to be doing the DVD thing today, which one would you pick?
TUSH: Actually, I talked to Coppola about "The Godfather."
HARRIS: Yes?
TUSH: So, I'm looking forward to that one. Yes, that was an interview that I did with him, and he does the whole thing on the DVD where he talks about the making of "The Godfather," and the fact that when Marlon Brando would sit down, he would just look at Coppola and go like this, meaning: I'm only acting from here up.
MCEDWARDS: I've heard that story.
HARRIS: We've heard that about him, yes.
MCEDWARDS: I guess that's a great things about the DVD's though, isn't it, that you get those extras. I mean you get to hear these great stories.
TUSH: Well, think if DVDs were around in the days of Preston Sturges and all of those guys. The great directors of the 30s and 40s, and the stories they could tell. And even the stars. Wouldn't you like to hear Jimmy Cagney talk about some of his roles?
HARRIS: Oh yes.
TUSH: It'd be fun. Unfortunately, I was just going to say, the VHS has now gone the way of the eight track tape player.
MCEDWARDS: Oh, don't say that. I am clinging to mine.
HARRIS: Don't say that...
MCEDWARDS: I'm a luddite though.
HARRIS: I've got four of them that I am clinging to.
TUSH: Oh, you're a luddite. I've still got a beta machine.
(LAUGHTER)
HARRIS: Only you, Bill.
TUSH: You got it.
HARRIS: Only you. Get out of here, man.
TUSH: Have a good holiday. See you later.
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