[Sydney:] Movie fans are counting down the minutes to "Gone in 60 Seconds." It opens tomorrow, the next big movie in a summer that has already breaking records, thanks to "Gladiator" and "Mission: Impossible 2." Lauren Hunter reports on the hot fun heading our way.
[Lauren Hunter, Cnn Correspondent:] It's going to be a sizzling summer on the silver screen, and check out who's coming.
[Unidentified Actress:] Come on, we're having a party. Do you want to come and join the party?
[George Clooney, Actor:] It's as compelling a story as I know.
[Angelina Jolie, Actress:] It's the jones for speed.
[Sean And Marlon Wayans, Comedians:] Hilarious!
[Mel Gibson, Actor:] It's a transportation to another time, another place.
[Jim Carrey, Actor:] It's all me.
[Hunter:] Well, not really. For Jim Carrey, it's actually "Me, Myself & Irene." That's one of more than 100 films released this summer, a traditional 15-week period that makes up nearly 40 percent of the year's total box office take.
[Anne Thompson, West Coast Editor, "premiere" Magazine:] The studios spend more than they do any time of the year, and the idea is to score.
[Hunter:] In the crucial 4th of July slot, George Clooney in "The Perfect Storm," the true story of a fishing crew caught in a force-12 gale.
[Clooney:] Everybody was throwing up like crazy. They gave us clear plastic barf bags. Here's a new recommendation: not clear plastic from now on.
[Hunter:] Clooney's competition? Mel Gibson in "The Patriot," a father-son saga set against the backdrop of the American Revolution. [Begin Video Clip, "the Patriot"]
[Unidentified Actor:] This is not the conduct of a gentlemen.
[Gibson:] I'll take that as a compliment. It's got all the big stuff, too, but it's a small, very personal story.
[Hunter:] Twenty-nine years later, the baddest private detective ever is back Samuel L. Jackson in "Shaft."
[Samuel L. Jackson, Actor:] Cool, and tough and semi-sexy a different kind of hero for a different time. He is a bit more volatile and a bit more violent.
[Hunter:] Nicolas Cage and Giovanni Ribisi are brothers with a fondness for stolen cars and Angelina Jolie in "Gone in 60 Seconds."
[Jolie:] Racing Ferraris around and learning how to, like, steal a car, and hanging out with Nic and Giovanni, you know that ain't a job.
[Hunter:] Men in dresses are big, literally. Martin Lawrence is "Big Momma" and Eddie Murphy is, well, pretty much everyone in "Nutty Professor
[Ii:] The Klumps." It's Bruce Willis, young and old, in Disney's "The Kid." Scary movie parodies, what else? scary movies, and Brendan Frasier sells his soul to Elizabeth Hurley's Satan in "Bedazzled." It's a psychological thriller for Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer in "What Lies Beneath," and a sci-fi thriller in "Hollow Man."
[Unidentified Actress:] We come up with a formula for invisibility.
[Hunter:] Jennifer Lopez'scientist gets in other people's minds in "The Cell." And superpowered mutants inhabit earth in "X-Men." Plenty of animated fare this summer, including "Thomas and the Magic Railroad," the "Pokemon" sequel, "Rocky & Bullwinkle," and "Chicken Run," with Mel Gibson as the voice of Rocky.
[Clooney:] If I was competing, I wouldn't want to go up against Mel Gibson.
[Gibson:] Well, he's going to have his work cut out for him trying to beat the rooster there.
[Hunter:] Hollywood's hoping this summer's box office will be something to crow about. Lauren Hunter, CNN Entertainment News, Hollywood.
[Sydney:] "ER's" departing Julianna Margulies is 34 today. Nancy Sinatra's boots are still made for walking at 60. And comedian Jerry Stiller of "King of Queens" is 71.