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American Morning

'Changing Lanes' Tops Box Office

Aired April 15, 2002 - 07:52   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Road rage rules at the box office. As predicted right here on Friday using the latest movie tracking technology, "Changing Lanes," starring Ben Afleck and Samuel Jackson, debuted in Hollywood's top spot over the weekend making $17.6 million. It was followed by, once again, "Panic Room, " the top film the last two weekends, Cameron Diaz's new romantic comedy, "The Sweetest Thing," "Ice Age" that's been up there for some time, as well as "The Rookie."

And joining us now with more movie news, Entertainment reporter, Susan Campos -- good to see you.

SUSAN CAMPOS (ph), ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER: Good morning.

ZAHN: What a sage you are. How did you know that Friday going into this that "Changing Lanes" was going to do so well?

CAMPOS: There are two research companies that basically do this, and they said that "Changing Lanes" was going to make basically between $13 and $18 million, and it made $17.5 million. So...

ZAHN: How do they know this?

CAMPOS: They get 1,000 people from across the country, and basically you have seen movie trailers and it's what you're awareness of this, is it your first choice? Because you may like five movies, but only see one movie over the weekend. So "The Sweetest Thing" was tracking really well with women, but not men. And so they said it would do about $10 million, and that's what it did.

ZAHN: And then how far out before the release do they start tracking these films?

CAMPOS: About four weeks, because then they can manipulate the campaigns. And what was interesting about this past weekend is "Spiderman" was the first choice for moviegoers. That's the movie they want to see. It doesn't open until May 3. Already they are saying this movie could open at over $50 million.

ZAHN: So that is based, once again, on people in theaters having seen a trailer for "Spiderman."

CAMPOS: Right. Do they know this campaign? I'm sure your sons are dying to see "Spiderman.? ZAHN: Well, my daughter is too, Susan. I want to see it too.

CAMPOS: Do you?

ZAHN: Yes.

CAMPOS: I guess we all know it from, you know, our childhood from the comic book, from the cartoon.

ZAHN: And there is another film coming out, "The Scorpion King." Now, is that tracking as well as "Spiderman" at this point?

CAMPOS: It's not tracking as well as "Spiderman," but it will do well this next weekend, because basically that's the prequel to "The Mummies." So if you have a sequel, a prequel -- "Harry Potter" was originally a book. I think that having an original idea isn't good in Hollywood anymore, because basically you have this direct awareness. People know what these movies are already, and so it's easier to market them.

ZAHN: Has there been any occasion you can point to where the marketing companies were way off on this tracking? I mean, it's just remarkable to me that not only did they get the positions correct, but they even got it down almost to the million dollar mark.

CAMPOS: Isn't it unbelievable? Well, sometimes I think they can say a movie will do, you know, 10 million, and it may end up doing 20 million, but usually they are pretty right on track.

ZAHN: Well, we need that same kind of thing in the television news industry as well.

CAMPOS: Exactly.

ZAHN: All right. Susan Campos -- we've got to all figure out how hard we need to work for the next three months.

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