It looks like an older fella (Up) is worth $18k per theater… vs. our favorite robot (WALL•E) from last year only sniffing $16k. Chuck B.'s early prediction would have been the best, but then he went back and revised it, so we can't give him the commenter crown. Sebastian was only a million off, but there were a lot of guesses out there, so a million wasn't close enough. Junjun sussed out the 3D aspect and came within a fantastic $.8m. Not shabby. I award you first commenter crown and hope you'll grace us with a call next Thursday. Now then, time for my own personal breakdown on the proceedings.
#1 movie predicted correctly: 1 Week In A Row
Yep, I was way low. Now that eight million people have seen it the word of mouth should go well for Pixar. Can it fight off the two comedies next weekend? It's gonna be close.
Result: 68.2 million (My rank: #1, $8.7m off)
A better call. It dropped a hefty 53% – so it officially looks nothing like the original (in terms of box-office profile). Junjun called a 2nd place and $26m finish, another dominant projection, but Raichu actually nailed the exact dollar and placement here. So Raichu, our first ever silver medal goes to you. And thus ends the awards portion of our recap.
Result: 25.5 million (My rank: #2, $3.2m off)
I overrated it, and Brad was right about it not being The Strangers. He was nice enough to text me with a Nikki Finke TOLDJA this morning. I've heard nothing but good things here, but the title was probably too hardcore given the actual tone (slight comedic?) of the film. It probably dropped that extra $5m with the "Hell" aspect.
Result: 16.6 million (My rank: #3, $4.8m off)
Right now, based upon projections, this was the third highest box office weekend of 2009. Sadly, even that can't fix Terminator Salvation. It dropped another 62%.
Result: 16.1 million (My rank: #4, $3.9m off)
Say what you want about me underrating Up or overrating Drag Me to Hell… no one does that bottom portion like The Oracle. Bustray, Junjun, and Gophers! were close, but I was exact. Exact is nice.
Result: 12.8 million (My rank: #5, $0m off)
It lost 63 theaters this weekend. Which means that 63 theaters ran it for two weekends and then gave up, even though the studio/theater split doesn't really get lucrative for the theaters until weekends three through five.
Result: 11.2 million (My rank: #6, $1.1m off)
Now I can say "TOLDJA" to the makers of Dance Flick. No more, we implore you.
Result: 4.9 million (My rank: #7, $0.1m off)
Does Wolverine have a shot at the yearly top ten (domestic)? It's third now. Nah, there's got to be seven films left that can top $180m, right?
Result: 3.9 million (My rank: #8, $0.6m off)
At the very least I went ten for ten on the slots. I didn't overrate DMtH so much that I had it second. A small victory, but a victory nonetheless.
Result: 1.9 million (My rank: #9, $0.3m off)
I did overrate it. But, as I figured, the bottom slot was so weak that an extremely low gainer was going to break through. That breakthrough came from Bloom, and I couldn't be more pleased with the result. It's still on an expansion schedule, so maybe it can creep up the charts and give a nod to a fella (Rian Johnson) who actually tries to do things a little differently.
Result: 0.652 million (My rank: #10, $0.848m off)
Any early calls for next weekend? Why are they releasing two comedies against each other? On the other hand, with one being R and the other PG-13, will they hurt each other at all? And does anyone have My Life in Ruins hitting double digits? Because I sure don't. See you Thursday.