[Paula Zahn, Cnn Anchor:] Got a tough couple of questions for you this morning. So what do nuclear terror and girl power have in common? Well check out the weekend box office. The movie thriller "The Sum of All Fears" took the top spot once again not much of a surprise for people who follow this stuff while "The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood" made its debut at number two.
[Unidentified Female:] Ya-ya. Surprise. Surprise. Mama's henchmen. Hey, Connor, come here and meet the Ya-Yas. You don't seem very surprised to see us. No, of course not. Whenever Mom can't handle something, it's only a matter of time before you all come swooping in.
[Zahn:] So how does a film that's being touted as the mother of all "chick flicks" really stack up? Joining us now from Los Angeles, entertainment reporter Susan Campos. Good morning, Susan.
[Susan Campos, Entertainment Reporter:] Good morning, Paula.
[Zahn:] I saw the film with a group of about 40 women representing all walks of life. And as far as they were concerned, it was a homerun.
[Campos:] Did you love it?
[Zahn:] I loved it.
[Campos:] I did too, actually.
[Zahn:] It made me cry. It made me laugh. I thought it was very well done. I know there are critics out there who said it pulled too many of those obvious strings, but it got me.
[Campos:] It got me too. I loved it, and I also loved the book.
[Zahn:] I didn't read the book. But most people who read the book said it was pretty true to what was in there the movie was.
[Campos:] It really was. I really liked it.
[Zahn:] So how did it do?
[Campos:] You know, it had a good solid weekend this weekend. The problem has been a lot of chick flicks haven't done well this year. So there's been so much pressure on this movie to perform. Because it had a great cast. It was based on a bestselling book and a writer and director who already had success in this area because she had written "Thelma and Louise."
[Zahn:] It's interesting that everybody gets a little sensitive about calling it a chick flick because they obviously want this to have broader appeal than just a narrow range of women. What is that concern about?
[Campos:] Well, you're absolutely right. You want it to have a broader range, and you want to get men into the theater. So you say there's something here for men too. But if you really look at it, and you obviously saw it, it is a chick flick. It's like saying "Bad Company" or "Lethal Weapon" is a romantic comedy. This is a chick flick, and it had an audience.
[Zahn:] Well, you know why men should go to this movie? Because James Garner is in it. I thought he was fabulous.
[Campos:] I thought he was fabulous too. And I think men should go just to it's good for them. But getting I could never get my husband to go to that movie.
[Zahn:] So let's talk about how action movies are also trying to broaden their appeal beyond men. Is it true now there's a concerted effort to add love lines in?
[Campos:] Absolutely. Look at "Star Wars" and "Spider-Man." "Spider-Man" had all that action, but at the core was this really adorable love story. And so they knew they were going to get young boys and get men into the theaters. But they wanted to get women in and also kind of make it a date movie. And they succeeded, because it's doing so well and breaking all sorts of records.
[Zahn:] I want to go back to this whole idea of chick flicks and the challenge of marketing them, because there certainly is a history of them having succeeded along the way. Comment a little bit on "Thelma and Louise" and how that worked. And then wasn't it "Steel Magnolias" that came after, that that was also a very successful so- called chick flick.
[Campos:] Well, "Thelma and Louise" is a great example. In 1991, it opened, and it was really difficult to get this movie made. And this wasn't only a chick flick, but it was also kind of controversial for its time. These two women, Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis, were on the cover of "TIME" magazine three weeks after it came out. This movie got so many women watching and women going over and over again. Kind of that female rage. So it just really worked. I loved that movie.
[Zahn:] And then "Steel Magnolias," of course, also did well.
[Campos:] "Steel Magnolias" did very well. And, again, I think "Steel Magnolias" is probably more like a "Ya-Ya Sisterhood" in that you have that whole Southern kind of thing. That was a great movie. Look at "First Wives' Club." I mean that was a very big movie. The problem with these so-called "chick flicks" is, as a rule, they don't do well internationally. What does well internationally are these action movies, and that's why they get made so easily, and it's hard to get these others done. Look at what's out there this summer, all of these big budget sequels that are lower risk. And you have these chick flicks that have smaller budgets, but they're bigger risks. So they're difficult to get made.
[Zahn:] It strikes me, though, in "Ya-Ya," in terms of potential appeal abroad, I mean everybody has a mother, and everyone, as much as they love their mothers, encounters some sort of tension in that relationship along the way, which is really the heart of the story, isn't it?
[Campos:] I love that, and I think that we can all relate to that. And you would think that those would do well internationally, but for some reason, that international is more they just like the action- packed films or thrillers.
[Zahn:] All right, Susan, we're going to have to leave it there.
[Campos:] Thank you.
[Zahn:] Good of you to join us, basically from the middle of the night LA time. Don't you just love being on duty in LA?
[Campos:] It's actually much easier in New York, because it's a better hour, I think. But it's good here.
[Zahn:] We woke that poor woman up at about 4:00 a.m. Thanks so much. Appreciate the insight.
[Campos:] Thank you. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com