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Box Office Wizard 10.01.10

This is Week #21. It’s never too late to start! The first week you predictis the first week you enter the Box Office Wizard competition. For every correct prediction each week, you earn a point. Points are cumulative.The game keeps going on and on forever and ever except we will reset everyone back to zero -- let's say -- once a year. Each week there will beat least two winners: a weekend wizard for the users who guessed the most correct and a box office wizard for the user with the most points to date. The goal is to be Box Office Wizard for as long as you can. I'll pickan end date for the year at some point and then whoever has the most becomes the year's box office wizard. Maybe by the team that happens, Player Affinity will be so wildly popular that we'll have some cool free stuffto give the Box Office Wizard of the Year. Regardless, it's worth giving a try. What do you have to lose?

Last Week's Top Five

1. Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps - $19M (weekend)… $19M (gross)
2. Legend of the Guardians - $16.1M…$16.1M
3. The Town - $15.6M…$48.6
4. Easy A - $10.6M…$32.7M
5. You Again - $8.4M…$8.4M

Week #20 Wizard(s): Kieran - 5 Pts
Current Box Office Wizard: Steven C - 57 Pts

Everyone did better than me this week, even the newcomers! So feel good about that. Many of you were smart to pick “Wall Street” as the top finisher. Congrats to Kieran for nailing all five.

ALL-TIME TOTALS
Steven C - 57
TheGamerGeek - 55
SimonSays - 51
Sallas - 35
Olly H - 14
Dustin C - 10
Kieran - 9
Joseph – 6
OracleofGame - 6
Dinah – 5
Dementious - 5
Max A – 4
HSXGirl - 3
Harmonica - 3
Matthew D – 3
Julian – 2
Lydia – 2

Remember, only submissions in the comment section count andthey must be made by 12:00 PM SATURDAY. Check our weekly recap posting late afternoon every Monday for the box office figures of the weekend. Remember, we count the WEEKEND ACTUALS, not the ESTIMATES announced on Sundays. On 4-day weekends, only the 3-day total matters.

Here are this week's new contenders followed by my predictions.

New Contenders this Weekend

social_network.jpgThe Social Network
Directed by David Fincher
Written by Aaron Sorkin, Ben Mezrich (book)
Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake, RashidaJones
Genre: Drama
Distributor: Sony/Columbia
Release: 2,771 theaters



    

case_thirty_nine_ver2.jpgLet Me In

Directed by Matt Reeves
Written by Matt Reeves, John Ajvide Lindqvist (screenplay and novel)
Starring: Chloe Moretz, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Richard Jenkins
Genre: Horror
Distributor: Overture Films
Release: 2,020 theaters







case_thirty_nine_ver2.jpgCase 39
Directed by Christian Alvart
Written by Ray Wright
Starring: Renee Zellweger, Bradley Cooper, Jodelle Ferland, Ian McShane
Genre: Horror
Distributor: Paramount Vantage
Release: 2,211 theaters






My Top Five Predictions


Last week I failed by not taking into account the more mature fantasy-based nature of "Guardians," but the mistake will not be made again, restassured. This week, the obvious pick for top spot is the most buzzed about film in awhile, The Social Network. I think the film will manage around $20million between the hype and a release of fewer than 3,000 theaters.

The rest of these films I project to finish between $8 and $12 million. Let's start with Let Me In, another film getting great reviews in the earlygoing. An R-rated film starring kids isn't exactly going to swoop up those unfamiliar with the film, but horror films this time of year tend to average between $10 and $15 million, so I'm saying $12 M.

Just after that should be Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, which will have a relatively quiet second week at $10 million.
Finishing just barely behind "Wall Street" ought to be The Town. It looks like it's poised to continue its 30-some percent decline, so $9 million is in order. Just behind that should be Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole, which should be out of the top five by next week so I do not have to type that ridiculous title up again. Easy A will just miss out on the top five and Case 39, which just about anyone could have gotten a bootleg of a year ago let alone by this point, should tank with less than $5 million.

1. The Social Network
2. Let Me In
3. Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps
4. The Town
5. Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole

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