PrimeTime Live Interview Summary

On PrimeTime Live, Chief Correspondent Chris Wallace interviews Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen, and finds that the ten-year-old twins have earned perhaps hundreds of millions of dollars in the entertainment industry.

The twins, who got their acting start on the sit-com "Full House," have created an entertainment empire, generating millions of dollars from direct- to-video and made-for-television movies.

One year, they had higher recognition than anyone on television, with the exception of Bill Cosby, and, according to their lawyer, Robert Thorne, Mary Kate and Ashley are the most highly paid child celebrities in America.

They have produced and stared in 14 videos which have resulted in $50 million in sales. "It Takes Two," a movie in which both girls stared, was a moderate success at the box office, but sold more than three-and-a-half million copies in video stores resulting in an estimated 80 million dollars.

Wallace reports that one of the reasons they have generated such success is that they are the executive producers of their own production company, "Dualstar."

Frank Assuma, chairman of the advertising agency Wells, Rich and Green, says of the two, "They're a small conglomerate in and of themselves. I think their business themselves is about $100 million, I believe." However, Wallace reports that Thorne does protect the Olsen's likeness.

On why he turns down merchandising offers, Thorne says, "They're no longer special. It's exploitation for the sake of exploitation. Those lunch boxes do not entertain."