November 27, 1995
Web posted at: 8:10 a.m. EST
From Correspondent Jim Moret
HOLLYWOOD, California (CNN) -- Competition is fierce among the more than 30 films set to hit theaters this holiday season. Record-setting box office figures over the Thanksgiving weekend officially launched one of the year's prime movie times.
Among family fare, "Jumanji" stars Robin Williams as a character trapped in a jungle board game for 26 years. When he is finally set free, so are slews of wild animals.
"It's kind of like a prolonged episode of 'The Twilight Zone,'" Williams explains. "Picture a man going on a journey beyond simple dice... it's the Jumanji Zone." (88K AIFF sound or 88K WAV sound)
Also in a family way is the upcoming "Father of the Bride Part II." In this installment, Steve Martin discovers he will become both a dad and a granddad.
"He's such a comic character and I think he has such a true pain about it," Martin says of his role, "but there's also a great joy that comes over him."
Whitney Houston's long-awaited second film, "Waiting to Exhale" -- also starring Angela Bassett -- is a story of four African-American women and their lives, loves and losses.
"There's something special about girlfriends," Bassett explains, "about the camaraderie that we share."
On a very serious note, Anthony Hopkins stars in a no-holds- barred look at the controversial U.S. president in "Nixon." Co-star James Woods plays Nixon aide H.R. Haldeman.
"The script is great," Woods says. "The performances are great and you know all the technological stuff, as usual, is on the cutting edge."
Two Oscar winners face off in "Heat," featuring policeman Al Pacino on the trail of bad guy Robert DeNiro through the streets of Los Angeles. But the stars say these are not cardboard characters.
"Vincent seems to me like a guy who's driven and at the same time a complicated character," Pacino says. "I think he's got a lot going on. He's torn but he's work obsessed." (192K AIFF sound or 192K WAV sound)
"Criminals or anybody, if you get to know them, have their nice sides too," DeNiro says. "And they have people in their families that love them and stand by them and could see no wrong." (152K AIFF sound or 152K WAV sound)
Other highly anticipated films include the Brad Pitt-Bruce Willis pairing in the futuristic thriller "Twelve Monkeys," Geena Davis' swashbuckler epic "Cutthroat," and the remake of the romantic comedy "Sabrina" starring Harrison Ford, Julia Ormond and late night talker Greg Kinnear in his big screen debut.
With so many films to see this holiday, who'll have time to shop for presents?
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