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American Morning

Holiday Movies Offer Delights

Aired November 27, 2001 - 09:49   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.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EMMA WATSON, ACTOR: Centrificus totalus.

RUPERT GRINT, ACTOR: You're a little scary sometimes. You know that? Brilliant, but scary.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: A wave of his magic wand and "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" is making box office records disappear. Now as the holiday movie season swings into full gear, is there any Hollywood heavyweight out there that can knock the little wizard off his perch?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the one. This is the greatest.

WILL SMITH, ACTOR: I'm only 22 years old. I ain't got a mark on my face. I'm going to be the greatest.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: Will "Ali" prove to be the greatest at the box office?

Jess Cagle of "TIME" magazine joins us now from Los Angeles with his picks for the best holiday movies.

How are you doing this morning? So nice of you to get up so early for us today.

JESS CAGLE, "TIME": Very early in L.A.

So Jess, give us a little preview on "Ali." How do you think it is going to do?

CAGLE: Ali is not necessarily a crowd pleaser. "Ali" is a very, very, very smart, very, very, very fine movie. It is not the kind of biopic we have become accustomed to on television; this is not he's born, he's poor, someone steals his bike, he learns to stand up for himself, he becomes a hero.

It takes place in a very specific period of time, 1964 to 1974, between the Sonny Liston fight and the George Foreman Rumble in the Jungle fight. We are taken into that world, dropped in the middle of it, and what we have is a real piece of cinematic poetry.

I don't know how audiences will respond. I think that because of Will Smith, though, it has a really good chance.

ZAHN: Yes, everything he has done has made a lot of money.

Was that an expensive film to produce?

CAGLE: It was a very expensive film for what is essentially an art film. This is about a $105 million budget. Sonny had to partner with another company to get it made. A real work of passion for director Michael Mann, who is one of the smartest, best directs out there. He did "The Insider," one of the best movies to come along in recent years. Unlike Will Smith, he's not known for huge box office, however.

ZAHN: Talk about expensive movie productions, let's move on to "Lord of the Rings." Explain to me what happened here. The production costs were so extensive they decided to maximize their time, and they did three in one, they used the sets for the trilogy?

CAGLE: Exactly. New Line went ahead and did the entire trilogy of "The Lord of the Rings." This is the one movie this Christmas that could give Harry Potter a run for its money. So all three movies in the trilogy were shot simultaneously. The first movie is coming out soon. This was either a really smart thing, because all three were done for about $300 million -- if the first one does not work, then what we have is a $300 million investment with two more movies in the can that nobody wants to see.

I don't think that's going to happen. Buzz is very good on "Lord of the Rings," and based on what I have seen of the movie, it really looks terrific.

ZAHN: Will that be appropriate for kids?

CAGLE: It will be appropriate for children not as young as "Harry Potter." It will be a more adult movie.

ZAHN: So more like the tweens, the 12-year-olds, 13-year-olds, 14-year-olds -- no kids younger than them?

CAGLE: I think so. Maybe a little younger than that. I would guess 8 or 9 could probably go see it as well. But if "Harry Potter" is "Monsters, Inc." then "Lord of the Rings" is "Shrek."

ZAHN: Another movie star people have been talking about are Penelope Cruz. People are talking more about them than they are about the movie, right?

CAGLE: Who knows, she may be C-R-U-I-S-E very soon. We are not sure.

We've certainly read about "Vanilla Sky" in the tabloids because Tom Cruise started dating his co-star in this after he broke up with Nicole Kidman. I think the movie will overcome all of the tabloid gossip. It is a really twisting, you-don't-know-what's-real, you- don't-know-what's-not, very dark thriller.

It's directed by Cameron Crowe. He did one of the best movies of last year, called "Almost Famous," which I think was really overlooked. He is a terrific director as well. He wrote the screenplay to "Jerry Maguire." They have had good success so far, so let's see how this goes.

ZAHN: Let's move on to "Ocean's 11." This one is filled with stars. That has to be a huge lure to bring people into the theater.

CAGLE: I think this will be a real crowd pleaser. George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Matt Damon -- it's a remake of the 1960s Rat Pack heist comedy "Ocean's 11." It's directed by Steven Soderbergh, who you remember won the Oscar last year for "Traffic." So one of our best directors, all of our best movie stars practically are in this movie. It should be a lot of fun.

ZAHN: Jess Cagle, thanks for the preview.

CAGLE: Thank you.

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