The Avengers Opens this Weekend to Much Anticipation
LU STOUT: That's Hong Kong outside. You're watching NEWS STREAM. And temperatures are certainly on the rise here. And the heat in Southeast Asia goes on. Mari Ramos joins us now for more from the world weather center -- Mari.</s>MARI RAMOS, CNN WEATHER CORRESPONDENT: Hey Kristie, yeah that's a nice picture from Hong Kong, though a little bit on the misty side. Pretty humid and definitely on the warm side. You can feel the seasons changing already. Let's go ahead and take a look a little bit across other areas of Southeast Asia. A lot of you complaining about the heat. You know what, these are temperatures from Tuesday. And across India into the 40s easily. And Bangkok got up to 40 degrees on Tuesday. This is pretty intense. Not as hot today. I think the highest I saw in Bangkok was about 36.5 today. Hanoi also getting close to about 38 today for your daytime high. Yesterday was 40, that's very significant but I wanted to go ahead and show you the numbers from yesterday. Easily three to six degrees above the average. Not out of the question. This is before the monsoon sets in. And typical the hottest time of the year. Well, we are definitely seeing temperatures above the average. So that's significant. It's 36 in New Delhi, 38 in Karachi. You got up to 40 there as well. 40 in Ahmadabad. And as we continue moving across Southeast Asia, Chiang Mai at 33. That's where lots of people go to try to find some cooler weather in Thailand sometimes this time of year, up into the mountains. But look at Bangkok at 32. It's a big change from yesterday. And the 33 in Hanoi right now actually feels a lot better even though it's pretty warm. 30 in Hong Kong at this late hour, Kristie. Wow, I bet those air cons are running full steam right now. And that's a big concern when we get into this time of the year, just the amount of energy that it takes to keep those air conditionings running. And people that don't have air conditioning really tend to suffer quite a bit. Notice back over here as we head into the Philippines also dealing with some hot temperatures this late at night, hot and sticky, because it is very humid as well. Beijing, 26. That's also above the average for this time of year. So what your day-time high should be, just a little bit lower than that, so we're definitely dealing with a little bit of heat there. 21 in Seoul. And as we head back over into Tokyo we're looking at 17. So I wanted to give you the story of the temperatures, because that's going to be one of the things to monitor over the next few days, because it's been so hot. And when it gets this hot and there's a lot of humidity, you get these strong thunderstorms that pop up. Some of them can be quite violent. And we're starting to see some strong storms developing right here across southeastern parts of China, back over into parts of Southeast Asia. We've had some very heavy rain. And this is starting to pull away now as we head into Honshu. Rainy tonight in Tokyo, should be improving as we head into the morning hours. And then in the tail end of this front we'll see those scattered showers and thuder storms. And like I said, some of those will be pretty strong. And this picture right here, that is not the Mediterranean. Summer like temperatures in Poland and in Germany. And in the Czech Republic and all the way down as we head through Ukraine and Romania. You guys all dealing with well above the average, a bonafide heat wave going on right now, the first one so far this season. We're looking at Budapest right now at 26, 29 in Belgrade. You're getting into the 30s as we head into Bucharest. Kiev right now at 23, that's a little bit unusual because you have this more closer to 27, 28 throughout the last few days. So this big areas of high pressure will begin to break down. What that means is the door opens up for storm systems to start coming in through here. And we're going to see a little bit of an improvement as we head into the later part of the week. And by the end of the week we'll start to see the rain move in. Right now, some pretty strong storms moving across France and in through the low countries here. Watch out for that, that's going to bring you some travel delays. Let's go ahead and check out your forecast. So right here, this area that we've highlighted across northern Europe from today through tomorrow the possibility of some strong winds, maybe eve a little bit of flooding. And watch out for those strong thuder storms, they zip by very, very quickly. Back to you, Kristie.</s>LU STOUT: All right. Mari Ramos, thank you and take care. Now the Marvel mash-up The Avengers is expected to dominate the U.S. box office when it opens there on Friday. And it is already going gang busters internationally. The super hero dream team, it debuted at number one in 39 markets last week. And it's already grossed more than 178 million U.S. dollars at the international box office. And The Avengers brings together a host of beloved comic book heroes played by an all-star cast. Village Voice entertainment columnist Michael Musto has seen the movie. He joins us now live from New York. So Michael, how was it?</s>MICHAEL MUSTO, VILLAGE VOICE: Hi, Kristie. It's really entertaining. I mean, it's not Citizen Cain, but it's fun. And it's a great thrill to see all your favorite super heroes get together and not only save New York, but save then entire planet and defeat a really terrible bad guy. I have to say it doesn't assault you from the beginning with noise and special effects, which is good. There are special effects along the way, but there's a lot of dialogue, a log of character development, and some very funny lines especially by Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man. And then I have to say the last 30 minutes or so are non-stop CGI effects. So if you're going there for action you're going to get it by the time you leave.</s>LU STOUT: All right. Now the movie, we all know it cost some $250 million to make. I mean, can you see it on this screen? Does it look like a quarter billion dollar movie?</s>MUSTO: Yeah, it is pretty spectacular. And by the way this was converted to 3D after it was made. And also they used a digital camera. The cinematographer said it's the first time he used that particular camera and they swooped around on dollies and cranes to get visceral shots. They also used background shots -- background plates made from aerial shots of Central Park and other landmarks so it wouldn't look too CGI'd. But basically you see the money up there. This is not some chintzy looking movie.</s>LU STOUT: It's interesting that The Avengers, it wasn't shot in 3D, it was converted into 3D, though. Do you think that added to the overall experience or not?</s>MUSTO: It does. I mean, it's not as exciting as a movie that's intended to be 3D, but it's just like The Titanic was converted, so was this. When I think the studio realized there's a lot more money to be made when people pay that extra $3 or more to see 3D. And it does -- you know, I personally don't mine wearing the glasses for some good effects, since I wear glasses anyway. And the effects are very good.</s>LU STOUT: Now, the writer/director Joss Whedon. I mean, we know him from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. How is he? How did he leave his mark on this movie?</s>MUSTO: Well, he sets up each character. He doesn't just throw them at you in a battle. Until you get the battle you see different aspects of the character. Captain America played by Chris Evans is very earnest, Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man, as I said, is extremely sardonic, Mark Ruffalo plays The Hulk, previously it was Eric Bana, then it was Ed Norton. Mark Ruffalo is a really good actor and he plays it very brooding. And then when he transforms into The Hulk it's really something to see. It's quite scary. So you have -- and Scarlett Johanesson is aboard as The Black Widow. And she actually speaks Russian. I was very impressed. And Gwyneth Paltrow is there. So you have all types of characters all coming together. I mean, there's something for everybody, except people who wanted to see The Godfather Trilogy.</s>LU STOUT: That's right, the heroine is a fireman are in there. Yeah, that's right, you're not going to be seeing The Avengers. Now, I mean, this is a mega mash-up movie of the great Marvel superheroes. But can I watch it and enjoy it if I haven't caught up with all the other Marvel flicks?</s>MUSTO: Yes, because you know what I haven't seen them all. I've seen most of them, because that's my job, but you could go in and from the beginning you're swept along by the story without even knowing all the back stories. So it actually works in that way.</s>LU STOUT: All right. Good to hear. Michael Musto, the Village Voice, thank you very much indeed. Now while the Avengers is certain to top the U.S. box office this weekend, the year's biggest blockbuster probably won't be a movie, but a game.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There will always be men like us for those who are willing do what others cannot.</s>LU STOUT: Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 is the latest in a long running series of war shooting games. It's publisher says the original Black Ops earned $360 million on the first day alone. The movie record, it belongs to the final Harry Potter film, which took $91 million on its first day. So mark your calendars, Black Ops 2 is due out on November 13. Now if the Chicago Bulls want to win the NBA title, they'll have to do it without their best player. Derrick Rose on the sideline, could the Bulls beat the Sixers? Pedro Pinto, he's got all the highlights next.