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Second Summit Possible Between United States and North Korea at the end of February; Oscar Nominees Announced And History of the Oscar; Cold Weather in Canada and Northern United States Causes Ice At Niagara Falls

Aired January 23, 2019 - 04:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

CARL AZUZ, CNN 10: Hi, I`m Carl Azuz here to deliver your Wednesday edition of CNN 10. We have some award show trivia coming up in a few

minutes but we`re starting with a report on a second summit between two rival countries. There`s an interesting stand-off taking place between

North Korea and the U.S. After meeting face to face for the first time last summer, the two countries leaders signed an agreement to establish new

relations and work towards peace. But since then, it`s as if the two sides are saying to each other OK, you go first. What do they want?

For North Korea, the answer is security guarantees. Promises from the U.S. that it will not attack the communist country. It also wants the U.S. to

lift the sanctions, the penalties it placed on North Korea because of it`s nuclear and missile programs. While North Korea has said it`s nuclear

program is a right, the United States and the United Nations consider it illegal and that`s what the U.S. wants. For North Korea to completely give

up it`s nuclear program and never try to develop nuclear weapons. But U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un held their

historic meeting on June 12th, they both agreed to give each other what they wanted. So the first step was taken but it`s the next one that`s been

the hang up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: President Trump is obviously very optimistic about the diplomatic process with North Korea. He even

said that there`s a lot of progress being made behind the scenes that hasn`t been reported in the media. But is that progress the arrangement of

the second summit or is the progress actual compromise on this issue of the timeline of denuclearization and the lifting of sanctions? Because that

has been the key sticking point ever since the summit in Singapore on June 12th.

They signed a very vaguely worded agreement that didn`t have any specifics. Kim Jong-Un walked away perhaps thinking that the U.S. was ready to lift

sanctions and provide economic relief right away. President Trump walked away thinking that perhaps North Koreans were ready to start getting rid of

their nukes right away. Obviously, that hasn`t happened. Talks have broken down because of the fact that the North Koreans say they need to

build confidence with the U.S. and they don`t want to give up nuclear weapons until they are completely sold that this process is going to work

out.

And so the big challenge now is for the U.S. and North Korea to find a way to come closer together on this issue. North Korea wants incremental

sanctions relief in exchange for slow steps toward an eventual denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. They also call for corresponding

measures which may include things like a reduction of troop presence, American troops on the Korean Peninsula or getting rid of the nuclear

umbrella that protects South Korea. Those are some big issues that are going to be quite difficult to overcome. We know that there are talks

happening in Sweden, lower level talks.

The U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Steven Vegan and Choe Son- Hui, the Vice Foreign Minister, those are some of the issues that they will be discussing at a lower level and then of course the bigger picture, the

summit itself. It will be happening towards the end of February. That`s according to the White House and President Trump. He`s not announcing the

location yet. Sources are telling me that the most likely option of those that have been thrown around is Vietnam. It`s a country that has strong

ties with both the U.S. and North Korea.

It`s a quick trip for Kim Jong-Un to go to Vietnam and Vietnam is a country that fought a war with the United States, rose from the ashes and

transformed it`s economy. An economic model that North Korea could perhaps follow if they decide to open up their own economy. Something that Kim

Jong-Un has said he wants to do. So the summit is happening but the big unanswered question, will they be able to accomplish something tangible?

Will they be able to walk away with an agreement that actually leads to action as opposed to what happened in Singapore? Where there was lots of

smiles, lots of photos but nothing in terms of denuclearization. Will Ripley, CNN, Beijing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARL AZUZ: 10 Second Trivia. The name Oscar refers to a statuette that`s officially known as what? Motion Picture Achievement Award, Knight of Film

Achievement, Academy Award of Honor, or Academy Award of Merit. Though it`s better known as an Oscar, the statuette is officially the Academy

Award of Merit.

And more than 3,000 of them have been presented since May 16th, 1929 when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences held its first award

ceremony. The nominees for this year Academy Awards, the 91st in U.S. history were announced on Tuesday. Observers say there`s not a clear front

runner for Best Picture this time around. Organizers haven`t even named a host yet and ratings for the televised show have been dropping in recent

years. But for people in the film industry, an Oscar is still the pinnacle of success.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In 1929, studio head Louis B. Mayer handed out the first Academy Awards. There were only 270 guests. The winners had been

announced months before and the whole thing only cost $5 to attend.

LOUIS B. MAYER, CO-FOUNDER OF METRO-GOLDWYN-MAYER STUDIOS: We`ve been the American Motion Picture become foremost in all the world.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fast forward 90 years and today the Oscars are awarded in a 3300 seat theater. Tens of millions of people watch the results live

and tickets cost hundreds of dollars. But the biggest difference, today`s movie studios spend millions to convince the Academy that their films

deserve to win.

KYLE BUCHANAN, POP CULTURE COLUMNIST FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES: Sometimes the amount of money that a studio will spend when they`re campaigning for an

Oscar is even more money than the budget of the movie to begin with.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That`s Kyle Buchanan. He covers all things Oscars for the New York Times.

BUCHANAN: If you want to get your movie taken seriously, you`ve got to spend. You`ve got to make sure there are ads out there. That there are

events. That people are contextualizing you as an Oscar contender.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And why do studios spend that much cash for an 8 1/2 pound statuette? For a smaller studio like A24 Studio Annapurna, the

answer is pretty obvious.

BUCHANAN: You know, making movies, you know, not a big budget a lot of the time but in order to be seen when the marketplace is choked with these big

blockbusters and superhero films. They need that sort of extra headline making ability that an award season can provide.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What about a bigger studio, like Warner Brothers or Universal? As we`ve seen over the past couple decades, box office hits

aren`t often considered Oscar contenders and blockbusters don`t really need the exposure that a nomination brings. Isn`t the money enough of a reward?

BUCHANAN: The people who work on these movies by in large are artists who want to be appreciated as artists by other artists in town. So when they

are in contention for an Oscar, it means something deeper. It satisfies them in a way that money can`t only.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So it`s really about talent acquisition and talent retainment?

BUCHANAN: Yes. It`s about making sure that people are happy, you know. You see it all the time when a star has had success and then they want to

do something more serious. They want to be understood as an artist with something to say.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When Warner Brothers goes all in on an Oscar campaign for Bradley Cooper or Ben Affleck, or Clint Eastwood, it`s not just for

bragging rights or even a box office bump. No. The studio spends that cash to show commitment to it`s stars and to keep them coming back for

future projects. For example, Hollywood`s biggest studio, Disney, is pushing harder and harder for it`s top blockbusters to be in Oscar

contention.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What next?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But the race isn`t just between traditional studios anymore. So why does something like Netflix want to win an Oscar? I mean,

it`s already the top of Hollywood. It`s one of the biggest media companies on the planet. Why does it need the little gold man?

BUCHANAN: I think Netflix is eager to disrupt any industry it can get its hands on, you know. They`ve already changed the way that we watch

television. Now they want to do the same for movies. Just like any studio, they want to be able to get in the Oscar race so that top tier

authors will come to them to make movies instead of the big studios that are out there. If they can penetrate this race, there`s really nothing

that Netflix can`t do. They want to upend the idea of theatrical distribution being the end all be all of seeing a movie. They want so

change the way you see a movie and if they can get Oscar to validate that then they`ve gotten almost all the way there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Academy is getting younger and more diverse and it`s nominees and winners are shifting too.

BUCHANAN: I think it`s good and necessary to recontextualize what we think of as an Oscar contender because it means that a lot of better movies that

have maybe even historically overlooked by the season. Perhaps certainly not been overlooked by audience members can actually get into the race.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Over the decades the Academy Awards have become bigger, more expensive and maybe a bit more inclusive. But in the end, Louis B.

Mayer started the awards to flatter stars into working in his movies. And today`s studios will spend more than ever to do just the same.

BUCHANAN: When it comes to this talent that comes to Hollywood, a lot of people go into the industry or even before they get into the industry

they`ve stood in front of that mirror. They`ve practice that Oscar speech. It is still the summit of this industry in so many ways and a lot of people

want that to really feel like they`ve hit the dream that they`ve always had.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARL AZUZ: Extremely cold weather hit parts of Canada and the Northern U.S. recently, the upside? Ice at Niagara Falls. Spectacular scenes were

captured recently on the border between Ontario and New York State including innumerable chunks of ice floating over the falls. Parts of

Niagara have frozen before. Whenever temperature dip below zero Fahrenheit and stick around for a while, you can expect to see clods and clouds of

ice.

Hard not to "falls" for that for a "spill". We here the view from the island was the "goat" a veritable "horseshoe in" for photographic

excellence. It`s a fast breaking update on "current" events and we thank you for taking the time to "wash". I`m Carl Azuz. CNN 10 hopes you`ll

"rush" back in tomorrow.

END