Day 75 of Gulf Oil Spill Disaster; Beach Conditions Along the Gulf Coast
HOLMES: "Twilight"; I'm not there yet but apparently this thing is huge. The "Twilight" phenomenon we can call it now continues to grow. The third installment in this blockbuster franchise hit theaters this weekend. Actually hit I think on midnight Wednesday people started going to see this thing. Our Kareen Wynter now, checking in to see how this one, this "Eclipse" stacks up against its competition and also what lies ahead for this franchise.</s>KAREEN WYNTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: More like an empire. Thousands of fans are packing into theaters to watch vampires battle werewolves in "Twilight: Eclipse" the third film in the hugely popular saga that's already earning millions at the box office, adding to what has quickly become a blockbuster franchise.</s>LACEY ROSE, FORBES MAGAZINE: The "Twilight" empire really includes so many things.</s>WYNTER: Lacey Rose from Forbes magazine says the four books in the series have sold roughly 100 million copies. And the first two films "Twilight" and "New Moon" have earned more than $1 billion worldwide.</s>RHODES: What I think makes this movie or this franchise quite unique is just how cheap it was to make and how it took these stars who were little known before they started with this into household names.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Doesn't he own a shirt?</s>WYNTER: Household names and wealthy heartthrobs. Stars Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, and Kristen Stewart have all taken a bite out of the "Twilight" phenomenon. According to "Forbes" Stewart and Pattinson earned $12 million and $17 million respectively in the last year. A majority coming from the "Twilight" movies.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You have to realize who you are.</s>WYNTER: If a billion dollar book-to-film franchise about supernatural teenagers sounds familiar that's because it is. "Harry Potter" also went from a book series to a massively successful string of movies but as Rose explains, there is a big difference between these love-struck vampires and the boy wizard.</s>ROSE: The first three "Twilight" movies cost less than $170 million to make. And just for comparison's sake the last "Harry Potter" flick "Half Blood Prince" cost a reported $250 million. So with the "Twilight" movies, it's a real big bang for the buck.</s>WYNTER: But no empire would be successful without its loyal subjects. In this case it's the "Twilight" fans or twi-hards. Many of whom camped out in Los Angeles days before the "Eclipse" premiere and lined up outside theaters just to get tickets to midnight showings. Dedication, Taylor Lautner still finds astonishing.</s>TAYLOR LAUTNER, "JACOB BLACK": It's just hard to believe. It is. I mean, I do believe it when I see the fans and see their passion but it's unreal so we wouldn't be here without them.</s>WYNTER: Fans still yearning for more. Many wonder how much more gas is in the "Twilight" tank.</s>ROSE: They'll continue to extend it in every way possible. You'll see two more movies. You'll see multiple sponsorship deals and you'll see that many more opportunities for the stars, themselves.</s>WYNTER: And more opportunities for audiences to sink their teeth into another of Hollywood's ever expanding franchises. Kareen Wynter, CNN, Hollywood.</s>HOLMES: Hello there, everybody. Top of the hour here now. Want to take a look at some of the stories that are making headlines including a horrible story out of the Democratic Republic of Congo. 230 people dead there after an oil tanker explodes following a traffic accident. Congolese authorities say people after this tanker wrecked were actually gathering around it and trying to collect the spilled oil from that tanker. They believe that someone there was smoking a cigarette and that lit cigarette may have ignited this explosion. General David Petraeus is the new commander over in Afghanistan. He is on the job now meeting the troops. Petraeus takes the reins following the ousting or the retirement, I should say or the resignation, I should say, of General Stanley McChrystal and also following what has been the deadliest month in the nine-year conflict for U.S. and NATO forces. Also, police in Tampa say a third party helped turn a suspect in who was wanted in the fatal shootings of two police officers. Dante Morris was a suspect of an intensive, four-day long man hunt after the Tuesday morning shootings. Funerals for the two slain officers set for just a little later today. Well, we are on day 75 now. You're seeing a live picture once again of what we have been seeing for the past 75 days. This, the oil continue to gush into the Gulf of Mexico. Scientists, what are they doing today? They're meeting with the EPA to discuss chemical dispersants. There was a study done on some of these things which have been a little controversial but they found in the study that the chemicals alone don't impact marine life. Researchers estimate between 35,000 and 60,000 barrels of oil have been gushing into the gulf every day since the explosion back on April 20th. The remnants of Hurricane Alex still causing a problem for these cleanup efforts. Rough waters actually caused the cap to bounce around that's on top of the oil spill down there on top of the leak. Made it difficult to capture all the oil they had been capturing. So some 20,000 fewer barrels of oil were captured. Now, one of the biggest issues this weekend now is tourism. This is a big beach weekend. A lot of people down there with the restaurants, the bars, the hotels, Reynolds, have been affected. Some people starting to gather there on the beach as always but what are folks down there, Reynolds, where you are, in Gulf Shores, what are they expecting of this weekend?</s>WOLF: Well, they're expecting -- they're definitely expecting a turnout. You know, it may not be as big as we've seen obviously over the last couple of years. Last year, you know, things were filled to capacity, all the hotels were sold out. This year not quite so much. It is a $1.1 billion industry, tourism here along the gulf coast. Here in Gulf Shores, you've got 32 miles of pristine beaches, obviously it's taken a hit from some of the oil. But you know what they've been working around the clock to make sure things are picture perfect. Now, thankfully we've got Grant with us. He's the Gulf Shores Director of Recreation. And Grant, it has been very busy. Maybe not a lot of tourists out there but we've had a lot of activity behind us, haven't we?</s>GRANT BROWN, DIR. OF RECREATION, GULF SHORES, ALABAMA: We've had activity all night long as normal. We got a little bit of rain last night and the night before which slows it down a bit but the crews have been out all night long making sure that the beaches are as clean and smooth as possible. We are expect a big weekend this weekend.</s>WOLF: Now, what exactly are these guys doing behind us specifically?</s>BROWN: Well, when the material comes in it comes in as globular tar balls. And the screens go through, sift the sand, and then put the sands back on the beach and take the material off the beach, cleaning the beach behind them.</s>WOLF: I mean, it seems it works pretty efficiently. These guys come in, they knock it out, they leave pristine sand. It's pretty good. Is this one of the things that should encourage people? I mean, what would you tell somebody thinking about coming here?</s>BROWN: I would sure invite them to come down and see what's happening. We've got tourists that have come for years and years and families. We still need you to come down. What you'll see here at the beach, you'll see generally clean beaches. Some days there will be material, some days there will be cleanup crews working on the beaches. Some days you may not be able to swim but you can sure come down and enjoy the seafood restaurants and enjoy all the other activities that are to do in town and if you're here for tomorrow the 4th of July we will have a spectacular fireworks display.</s>WOLF: What time does that get under way tomorrow?</s>BROWN: 9: 00 Central here in Gulf Shores and we'll have a barge south of the beach 9:00 sharp. Also it will be simulcast with our local radio station so you can listen to the patriotic music and have fireworks at the same time.</s>WOLF: You know, it's a patriotic time, it's an important thing you're doing out here. These guys have been working really hard. Back to what we were talking about in terms of the clean-up efforts, what's interesting about that is not only they're cleaning up oil but they have to keep their eye out for globs of oil but they also have to watch out for animals like turtles, don't they?</s>BROWN: We do. And this process happens at night generally. And at night is when turtles come out of the gulf, they lay their eggs onshore and then turtles go back into the water and so if there aren't watchers ahead of these machines, they can't see where the turtles are laying their eggs in their nests. And so save the beach turtle watchers accompany these cleanup crews and then when they find the nests, they identify the nests and at some point they will actually take these nests and relocate them to make sure that the baby turtles have a good chance of survival to relocate them some place else along the coast.</s>WOLF: OK. And then coming from a guy who's a great golf that would be kind of like keeping your eye on the ball. You're watching everything in terms of the cleanup, watching out for the animals, doing the best you can for the tourists.</s>BROWN: Yes, we sure are. We got not only the machines at night, during the day, we have people that help us clean out the tide pools. When you get high surf conditions, you get tide pools and when these machines aren't effective in the water, they actually have to be on smoother sand and so between the people with the hand tools and the e machines at night, there are hundreds, literally thousands of people here along the coast cleaning these beaches on a daily basis. That's good for the environment. We don't want this material to get down into the sand too deep. We're going to have to come back at the end of this process and continue to keep sifting to make sure that the materials are removed.</s>WOLF: Well, Grant, in TV we call that a wrap. Thank you so much for coming by and talking to us. Good luck to you guys. Again, T.J., they're working awfully hard. Come on down to the beach, folks. If you're thinking about it, things are still beautiful down here. They certainly could use you and your business and they'll have quite a show for the 4th of July. Let's send it back to you in the studio.</s>HOLMES: And you talked about this being a very patriotic time. A lot of people say the most patriotic thing you can do right now is support your fellow American. Get down to the gulf and support those folks just by visiting, having a meal, staying in a hotel.</s>WOLF: Absolutely.</s>HOLMES: Reynolds, appreciate you, buddy. We'll talk to you again soon. Reynolds giving us an idea of things there along the coast in Alabama. Well what's happening in Florida as well, particularly Panama City Beach? It's an important time for them there as well. Let's turn to a man we had on a couple of weeks ago and talked to us about how they're doing. We want to check back in with Dan Rowe is his name. He is the president of the Panama City Convention and Tourism Bureau, joining us now on the phone. Sir, we had you here. Thanks for being here again. We had you a month ago. Tell me the difference and how things are in Panama City as far as oil, tar balls, and what not. What difference has the month made since we talked to you?</s>DAN ROWE, PANAMA CITY CONV. BUREAU: Well, T.J., we've had a few tar balls start washing up on the beach just about exactly two weeks ago. But we have escaped most of the major impacts from the oil spill. The winds have been predominantly coming out of, you know, coming out of the southeast which is continuing to push the oil away from Panama City Beach. So our beaches are absolutely beautiful. And I can attest to the guys from Gulf Shores that the cleanup crews, when any product comes on the beach, are on it and pick it up and make sure there is minimal impact to the vacationers who are enjoying the beach.</s>HOLMES: Dan, tell us what this weekend the 4th of July weekend, this holiday, means to that area as far as money making throughout the year, as far as tourism goes?</s>ROWE: Well, about half of our tourism revenues come for the entire year come during the months of June, July, and August, but the 4th of July is absolutely the most important weekend that we have in our entire travel schedule. This is the weekend where the hotels and condos absolutely just completely fill up and, I mean, it's very, very important to our industry.</s>HOLMES: Well, Dan, just there on that point I wanted to stop you. You said this is the weekend they fill up normally. How is it right now though?</s>ROWE: Right now, we're going to have a very good weekend at the beach. You know, because the beaches are clean. We don't expect that we'll sell out. So if there is anybody who is on the fence whether they need to get away for a few days I encourage them to get in their car, get on an airplane, and get down here. Because it is a gorgeous beach weekend. Right now just isolated thundershowers in the afternoon but right now sunshine, blue skies, and emerald green waters.</s>HOLMES: Well, I love that you're able to make a pitch there. What about any restrictions on the beach right now? We know there are several different reports on beaches even though they're not closed, there are tar balls and there are some advisories and at some places you can't get into the water. What about there in Panama City?</s>ROWE: Panama City Beach, the beaches are absolutely wide open, there are no restrictions. We've had some rough surf for the last couple days. So there are some rip currents. So, you know, our swimmers need to make sure they check the flag system before going in the water. But it is, I'm standing on the beach right now and it is glorious here.</s>HOLMES: Glorious. All right. Well, Dan, one last thing here. Do you think, what kind of headway have you made in that psychological battle? You've been putting out campaigns, several other beaches have as well just trying to get at people's heads, that hey, we are open and you can still come here but a lot of people just turned off by the idea of a couple of tar balls showing up. What kind of headway have you made in that psychological battle you're trying to win?</s>ROWE: Well, I have to tell you, I am so appreciative of the visitors that have made Panama City Beach and the gulf coast their beaches of choice because visitors are coming and they are hanging in there with us and I think that we are getting the word out and we are, you know, it is a battle and I think that we are staying ahead of it. I think that it really goes back to the visitors. I mean, they're the ones that are making those decisions for their hard earned vacation dollars and when they continue to bring them to the Gulf Coast, we all win. I am so thankful to them.</s>HOLMES: Dan Rowe, we appreciate you being with us once again. We will continue to check in with you but we appreciate you joining us once again here on CNN SATURDAY MORNING. Go ahead.</s>ROWE: I hope all of you guys have a happy 4th of July.</s>HOLMES: Thank you so much. We're hoping you all have a happy one and a successful one as well. Thanks so much. Again, Dan Rowe with the visitors bureau down there, Panama City Beach. Well, more on the efforts to bring tourists back to the beaches next hour. Taking you back to Gulf Shores, Alabama where they're counting on of all people Jimmy Buffet to save the day. One of the top marketing guys for the Gulf Coast Convention and Visitors Bureau. He's going to be talking to us about that and a whole lot more. We'll see that and we'll see you back here at 10:30 Eastern. But for now, it's 13 minutes past the hour. We're coming back right after the break.