Welcome to Box Office Wizard, Player Affinity’s Movie Box Office Prediction Contest. 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 41.
Contest Rules: To qualify, entries must be submitted in the Comments 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 comments section qualify.
-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. Puss in Boots - $34.1 M ... $34.1 M
2. Paranormal Activity 3 - $18.1 M ... $80.9
3. In Time - $12 M ... $12 M
4. Footloose - $5.5 M ... $38.5
5. The Rum Diary - $5.1 M ... $5.1 M
Week #40 Wizard(s): Cinemus, Simonious, Kieran - 4 pts
Current Cumulative Box Office Wizard(s): Cinemus the Predictor - 111 pts
Current Percentage Box Office Wizard(s): Simonious Saysian - 55%
Cinemus the Predictor - 111 (106/200 - 53%)
Herpious Derpious - 106 (101/200 - 51%)
Kieran - 86 (90/190 - 47%)
Simonius Saysian - 87 (82/150 - 55%)
Lord Jamven Serpenthelm - 20 (15/35 - 43%)
PeeWee the Purple - 9 (4/20 - 20%)
MacGumblebug the Third - 9 (4/10) - 40%)
Julian - 7 (7/15 - 48%)
Max A - 5 (5/10 - 50%)
Alex M - 3 (3/15 - 20%)
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
Tower Heist
Directed by Brett Ratner
Written by Ted Griffin, Jeff Nathanson, Adam Cooper, Bill Collage
Starring: Ben Stiller, Eddie Murphy, Matthew Broderick, Casey Affleck, Alan Alda
Genre: Comedy/Action
Distributor: Universal
Release: 3,367 theaters 
A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas
Directed by Todd Strauss-Schulson
Written by Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg
Starring: John Cho, Kal Penn, Neil Patrick Harris
Genre: Comedy
Distributor: Warner Bros. (New Line)
Release: 2,875 theaters
Box Office Predictions
With strong newcomers expected at the box office from now until the dawn of 2012, predictions should be a lot easier. To start this wonderfully simpler time of year, Tower Heist should be able to fend off a great second weekend from Puss in Boots. Without Halloween to get in the way and still no competition for the kiddies, “Puss” won’t drop below $20 million, but closer to $25 million is possible. It won’t be enough to beat “Heist,” as Stiller has proven to be good for close to $30 million in his more all-ages films. Ratner has been about the same looking at the “Rush Hour” films.
In third place, A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas should help usher in the holidays. Although early Christmas films have little holiday magic, the last “H&K” made $15 million. Add 3D premiums and a Neal Patrick Harris being more heavily involved in the advertising and that should offset the typical decline (and bad run comedy has had lately).
Sliding easily into fourth and fifth will be Paranormal Activity 3 and In Time. Both films should fall by about 50 percent at the least given their genres, but without any other new films to compete, it won’t keep them out of the top five.
1. Tower Heist
2. Puss in Boots
3. A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas
4. Paranormal Activity 3
5. In Time
