Welcome to Box Office Wizard, Player Affinity’s premiere movie box office prediction contest that gives the average Tom, Dick or Merlin the chance to prove his or her worth. Entering is and always has been simple, so why not get your beard on and give it a try? Just read through this post and leave a comment with, in order, what you think the top five box office finishers will be this weekend. Finish out 2011 on top and you will win something COOL.
WANT FIVE BONUS POINTS??? In your comments, leave your official wizard name. Be creative. See some example names in our Wizarding Leaderboard.
Below you’ll find another recap of the rules, last week’s Top Five, current BOW Standings, a list of new movies getting wide releases this weekend and some details, and then finally an explanation of my Top Five predictions to give you a starting point.
This is Week 20.
How it Works: For every movie you correctly place in the box office top five (say you pick “Resident Evil: Afterthought 3D” to rank first in the box office that weekend and it comes in first), you earn a point. Only if a movie is in its correct place can you earn a point. (You could have all top five movies out of order and get a fat zero – it happens.) Points are cumulative. We will also keep track of the percentage you have correct.
So, let’s say you’ve played for four weeks and missed only four movies. You then have 16 Cumulative Points out of 20 and a prediction percentage of 75%. Not too shabby. Someone else could have 64 CP out of 110 and be ahead of you in CP, but behind you (58%) in percentage. You must, however, have played 8 weeks to be eligible for the Percentage crown. When the year is up, whoever has the most cumulative points and whoever has the highest percentage (could be the same person) wins the title of Box Office Wizard 2011.
Official Scoring/The Fine Print:
-Only submissions in the comment section count.
-Predictions must be in by noon (in the time zone you’re in) the Saturday after the weekly post goes up. Friday by Noon on early start Holiday weekends
-Only the Weekend Actuals (released Monday afternoons) count as the official totals, not the estimates that most news sources publish Sunday afternoons.
-On holiday weekends that start early or end late, only the three-day Friday through Sunday totals count.
-Look for Dinah Galley’s box office recap on Mondays for the weekend’s results (not always the actuals, so look closely).
Last Weekend's Top Five
1. The Hangover Part II - $85.9 M ... (weekend) ... $117.5 M (gross)
2. Kung Fu Panda 2 - $47.6 M ... $53.4 M
3. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides - $39.8 M ... $153.4 M
4. Bridesmaids - $16.5 M ... $85.1 M
5. Thor - $9.5 M ... $155.8 M
Week #19 Wizard(s): Everywiz - 3 pts
Current Cumulative Box Office Wizard(s): Cinemus the Predictor (me) - 57 pts
Current Percentage Box Office Wizard(s): Simonious Saysian - 57%
I'm shocked no one picked "Hangover," but I guess I made a good case.
WIZARD LEADERBOARD (Cumulative Pts)
Cinemus the Predictor - 57 (52/95 - 54%)
Herpious Derpious - 54 (49/95 - 51%)
Simonius Saysian - 51 (46/80 - 57%)
Kieran - 44 (44/95 - 46%)
Lord Jamven Serpenthelm - 20 (15/35 - 43%)
MacGumblebug the Third - 9 (4/10) - 40%)
Julian - 7 (7/15 - 48%)
Max A - 5 (5/10 - 50%)
BOX OFFICE WIZARD HALL OF FAME
2010 Box Office Wizard: SimonSays - 97 pts in 34 weeks
2010 Box Office Wizard: Steven C - 97 pts in 34 weeks
New Contenders this Weekend
X-Men: First Class
Directed by Matthew Vaughn
Written by Ashley Miller, Zack Stentz, Jane Goldman, Matthew Vaughn (screenplay), Sheldon Turner and Bryan Singer (story)
Starring: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Rose Byrne
Genre: Action/Sci Fi
Distributor: Fox
Release: 3,641 theaters
My Box Office Predictions
Well, last week might have been a bit of a failure, but this should not be with only X-Men: First Class entering the fold. With the success of the "X-Men" franchise and positive reviews, first place should be no problem. Without the iconic character of Wolverine and all new faces, a franchise-best seems unlikely, but $50-70 million is the range I'm expecting.
In second, I would normally look for a flip-flop between a first-place comedy and a second-place animated film from a previous week, but the gap was wide between The Hangover Part II and Kung Fu Panda 2. They will surely finish closer, both probably in the $35-45 million range.
Standard drop downs for the rest too: Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and Bridesmaids will round out the top five.
1. X-Men: First Class
2. The Hangover Part II
3. Kung Fu Panda 2
4. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
5.
Bridesmaids
