Pokemon's In For The Big Haul
Young Pokemon fanatics have been flooding movie theaters to see a full-length feature of animated heroes who have more than earned their keep, reports CBS News Correspondent Jacqueline Adams.
Pokemon - The First Movie is expected to do big business Thursday, thanks to the Veterans Day holiday. Pokemon characters have already proven lucrative, their images emblazoned on popular trading cards, featured in video games and on a hit cartoon show.
Adult reviewers have been lukewarm to the movie, with a cast of fictitious creatures lead by a yellow, wide-eyed, squirrel-like character called Pikachu. But kids are all thumbs up for Pokemon, short for "pocket monsters."
"I love it!" one boy told CBS News. When asked why, he breathlessly answered, "I just don't know."
No matter their gender or their age, the Pokemon movie has something for everyone.
"The kids are excited, so I'm excited, too," one woman said. "I want to see what is going on."
The film is expected to rack up more than $1 billion in sales this year.
"Barney was not as big as this," says David Liebowitz of Burnham Securities. "Beanie Babies did not do as much as this, as quickly."
Toy analysts say Pokemon fever could go on forever - or at least the next two or three years. On Wednesday, when kids were supposed to be in schools, the film made $10 million. Analysts expect it could gross in excess of $50 million.
Meanwhile, police in Elmont, N.Y., say violence erupted between children over Pokemon trading cards. Long Island officials say a nine-year-old boy slashed a 13-year-old boy above the knee with a carving knife Wednesday night in an apparent dispute over the popular collectibles.
At a handful of schools across the country, the cards have been banned because they're disruptive. An official at a Kentucky school said many students would rather trade cards than eat lunch or participate in other activities, and some negotiations have grown into arguments.
Nintendo of America controls the Pokemon franchise, which it acquired from its creators in Japan. The film was adapted for American audiences from the Japanese original.