Welcome to week three of our 2014 Summer Box-Office Challenge!
Think of it as a summer-long contest for movie-lovers ‐ you’ll make predictions and guesses as to which summer movies will rule the box-office each week, we award points and at the end of the contest the three top point-earners will each win a Blu-ray/DVD prize pack! First place will win ten (10) Blu-ray/DVD titles released throughout the coming summer, second place wins five (5) and third place wins two (2). We’ll have bonus questions each week as well to help bolster your point totals and keep you in the running.
I’d ask if anyone could have seen this past weekend’s box office results coming, but clearly some of you suspected what the rest of us couldn’t fathom ‐ and by some I mean a whopping three of you. Sony’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2, the summer’s first blockbuster-to-be, has been booted from the #1 spot after only one week at the top. The movie’s a stinker so it’s well deserved, but that’s just embarrassing for everyone involved.
The box-office actuals for week two show Neighbors taking #1 with $49.03 million while the less fortunate newcomer Legends of Oz: Dorothy’s Return banked less than $5m. We’re tracking everyone’s points, but we’ll only be listing the top five players each week. Here are the current standings.
- Husain ‐ 11 points
- AKFilmfan ‐ 9 pts
- Campbelldropout ‐ 5 pts
- Chris B ‐ 5 pts
- Zack ‐ 4 pts
And now it’s on to week three! Check out the challenge questions below and play along in the comments section.
Neighbors opened incredibly strong for an R-rated comedy and took down a superhero, but can it stand up to a giant green lizard? Doubtful. Gareth Edwards’ Godzilla has been getting mostly positive buzz (despite what our own Jack Giroux says), but even if that wasn’t the case the film would be a lock to open at #1. Probably.
To enter, leave a comment below with your answers to these questions by 11:59 pm Central time Wednesday:
- Predict the #1 film at the box office for May 16–18 and how much it will earn: The closest correct answer earns 5 points, the 2nd closest earns 3 points and a correct guess within one million dollars earns an additional 2 points. (Example: “SX_TAPE, $69m”)
- Bonus Question: Will Million Dollar Arm, a movie about a baseball scout, open to more or less this weekend than the somewhat similar Trouble With the Curve did in 2012? [Clint Eastwood’s film opened with $12.2 million.] A correct answer earns 2 points.
Here are the incredibly simple rules:
- The cutoff for predictions is 11:59 pm Central time each Wednesday, and there will be no exceptions.
- Predictions are for Friday to Sunday domestic box office as reported by Box Office Mojo.
- The contest runs through the weekend of July 25–27 (that will be the final round).
- Be sure your Disqus info is accurate and consistent as that’s how we’ll be tracking your guesses week to week and contacting our three winners.
- Comment edits made AFTER the cutoff time constitute cheating and will result in player forfeit.
We’ll return next Monday for week 4 and our updated leader-board. Thanks for playing and good luck!