Welcome to Box Office Wizard, Player Affinity’s premiere movie box office prediction contest. The final "Harry Potter" film comes out this weekend and there's a frenzy in the air, so if you can't get in the mood to be a box-office wizard now, you might as well go sit in a box ... in your office. Just read through this post and tell us your top five box office predicted finishers for this weekend. Finish out 2011 on top and you will win something COOL.
This is Week 25.
Contest Rules: To qualify, entries must be submitted in the Comment Section. 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 one point. The movie selection must be in its correct rank to earn a point. Points are cumulative. We will keep track of your correct percentage. WANT FIVE BONUS POINTS??? Leave your official wizard name in the Comment Section with your entry. Be creative. Example names are in our Wizarding Leaderboard.
How scoring works: 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 and Noon Friday on Holiday weekends.
-Only the Weekend Actuals (released Monday afternoons) count as the official totals, not the estimates that most news sources publish Sunday afternoons.
-For 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).
Top Five From Last Weekend
1. Transformers: Dark of the Moon - $47.1 M ... $261 M
2. Horrible Bosses - $28.3 M ... $28.3 M
3. Zookeeper - $20 M ... $20 M
4. Cars 2 - $15.2 M ... $148.8 M
5. Bad Teacher - $8.9 M ... $78.6 M
Week #24 Wizard(s): Simonius, Kieran - 5 pts
Current Cumulative Box Office Wizard(s): Cinemus the Predictor (me) - 76 pts
Current Percentage Box Office Wizard(s): Simonious Saysian - 63%
Yes, Herpious, I didn't change this note last time. Now it is changed. Those of you who figured Bad Teacher would hold true in the face of R-rated comedy competition were correct to the tune of a perfect weekend. Nicely done.
WIZARD LEADERBOARD
Cinemus the Predictor - 76 (71/120 - 59%)
Herpious Derpious - 73 (68/120 - 56%)
Simonius Saysian - 65 (60/95 - 63%)
Kieran - 64 (64/120 - 53%)
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
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2
Directed by David Yates
Written by Steve Kloves, J.K. Rowling (books)
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Ralph Fiennes
Genre: Action/Adventure
Distributor: Warner Bros.
Release: 4,375 theaters 
Winnie the Pooh
Directed by Stephen J. Anderson, Don Hall
Written by A.A. Milne (books)
Starring: (voices) Jim Cummings, Craig Ferguson, John Cleese, Tom Kenny
Genre: Animation/Family
Distributor: Disney
Release: 2,405 theaters
My Box Office Predictions
It’s no secret who the favorite is this week. It’s just a matter of whether you think Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 can swipe away the biggest three-day opening weekend record from The Dark Knight. The first part made about $125 million in its opening. With that much of an audience guaranteed to see the final film, plus the addition of 3-D premiums, I’m thinking at least $140 million. I think it should beat The Twilight Saga: New Moon with ease and come close to No. 2 of all time, Spider-Man 3. Even if it does take the crown, it will have just over a year to enjoy it before The Dark Knight Rises takes it back.
Pretty standard stuff the rest of the way down the top five. Transformers: Dark of the Moon has enough stay in second with what’ll be close to $25 million. Horrible Bosses will take third with $18-20 million seeing as no new comedies for an older audience are there to compete.
The final two spots are tough. “Pooh” has a weak history at the box office, but I think it will outdo its predecessors. I have to play it modestly, however, with “Harry Potter” appealing even to young ‘uns who shouldn’t be going. I’m going to take Zookeeper to hold with about $10 million, which is close to where I envision Winnie the Pooh. Cars 2 will just miss out on a fourth week in the top five with $7-8 million.
1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2
2. Transformers: Dark of the Moon
3. Horrible Bosses
4. Zookeeper
5. Winnie the Pooh
