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Box Office Wizard (10.29.10)

It’s Box Office Wizard! Predict which five movies will place in the top five of this weekend's U.S. domestic box office. It’s that easy. I will make my own predictions here and explain them to you each week to give you some sort of reference point. It's then your job to enter a comment with your top five. 

This is Week #25. It’s never too late to start! The first week you predict is 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 be at 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 pick an 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 stuff to 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. 1. Jackass 3D - $50.3 M (weekend) … $50.3 M (gross)
  2. 2. RED - $21.7 M … $21.7 M
  3. 3. The Social Network - $10.3 M … $62.4 M
  4. 4. Secretariat - $9.3 M … $27.3 M
  5. 5. Life as We Know It - $8.9 M … $28.6 M

Week #24 Wizard(s):  Everyone but me - 5 pts
Current Box Office Wizard: Steven C - 66 Pts 

Seriously, I'm getting tired of this "showing where I think my guesses will be close thing" and everyone jumping on the opposite of what I decide. It wouldn't be a problem if I were right every time, but nooooo. At least I'm the wizard again because Jay missed the deadline ... all right, kudos to everyone for nailing last week's pretty straightforward weekend and figuring out where the wildcard of Hereafter would go.
 

ALL-TIME TOTALS
Steven C - 66
 SimonSays - 64
TheGamerGeek - 64
Sallas - 48

Kieran - 23
Olly H - 14
Dustin C - 10
Max A – 9
Joseph – 6
OracleofGame - 6
Dinah – 5
Dementious - 5 
HSXGirl - 4
Harmonica - 3
Matthew D – 3
Julian – 2
  
Lydia – 2

 

Remember, only submissions in the comment section count and they 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


Saw 3D
Directed by Kevin Greutert
Written by Patrick Melton, Marcus Dunstan
Starring: Tobin Bell, Costas Mandylor, Betsy Russell
Genre: Horror
Distributor: Lionsgate
Release: 2,808 



 
 My Top Five Predictions 

Last year, as mentioned, Saw VI made a putrid $14.1 million compared to $30 million for Saw V. Many will look to Paranormal Activity for stealing its thunder. So, how will the final installment do? I think in between V and VI is a safe bet. The draw is this is the final film and it will be in 3D. The problem is that Paranormal Activity 2 is riding high on some great reviews and a $40-million opening. That's direct competition, even if horror films are known to lose their audience after the first weekend.

It's tough, but I think I'm going to go with Saw 3D. It's a gutsy call, but last year was unique for Paranormal ActivityParanormal Activity 2 should see the typical horror decrease and is at least tracking to do so this week. Halloween weekend is wildcard, but I see Saw 3D with $22-25 million and "Activity" with $18-20 million. I'll put some faith in the "Saw" fans wanting a last hurrah.

The rest should be a slide-down as is usually the case when a weekend has minimal new competition. Jackass 3-D will take another big hit, but it should outlas RED no problem. $10-12 M for the daredevils and $10 M for the old folks. Hereafter will probably make $6-7 M after a solid outing last weekend.

  1. Saw 3D
  2. Paranormal Activity 2
  3. Jackass 3-D
  4. RED
  5. Hereafter
 

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