Welcome to week eleven 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.
The actuals will be in later today, but they won’t change Transformers’ hold on the top spot in the face of three newcomers. It handily beat Earth to Echo and Deliver Us From Evil, and even Tammy came in $15 million under. Good news for Michael Bay and Paramount? Sure. But the fact that it dropped a hefty 64% as well (and may end up as the lowest grossing entry of the franchise? No so good. Its $36m haul was at the low end of players’ guesses leading to a minor shake-up in our top five ranking. Keep reading to see the latest standings and to play along this week.
- Thomas McCallum – 26 points
- Chris B – 24 pts
- AKFilmfan – 24 pts (tied for 2nd)
- Gary Salem – 23 pts
- Jamie Boyd – 23 pts (tied for 4th)
We’re in the final month of the contest, but it’s still anyone’s game – and by anyone I mean those of you with ten points or more – so the rest of the active players are ranked at the end of the post. And now it’s on to week eleven! Check out the challenge questions below and play along in the comments section.
There’s only one new release this coming week, and it’s a lock for 1st place over the weekend. Rise of the Planet of the Apes opened to $55m three years ago, and while the sequel trades out directors (and lead human) it’s already receiving even more critical praise than its predecessor. Will that advance hype translate into a higher opening?
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 July 11–13 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: “Chef, $1m”)
- Bonus Question: Richard Linklater’s last two films, Bernie and Before Midnight, opened with per theater averages of $29k and $49k respectively. Will his highly acclaimed Boyhood – all 166 minutes of it – open to more or less than $34k per theater? 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 12 and our updated leader-board. Thanks for playing and good luck!
Here are the remaining players who have points in the double-digits and therefore still have a chance of winning:
Husain 21 Barthov 20 Spencer Connell 18 Ash 17 Smokey Ling 14 Alex Guilmartin 12 Xtlhogciao 12 Rpaine 11 Starkweather 11 Good Jeff 10 Joe Webb 10
