So, back in early June, Kris and I decided to have a little summer movie fantasy draft, based on what the guys over at Filmdrunk were doing. We each picked five movies we thought would have the highest gross based on their combined opening weekend at the box office (domestic). We also picked three films apiece that we thought would combine for the lowest Rotten Tomato score.
We’re halfway through the summer, and most of the movies on our lists have opened, so let’s look at how our summer league is going.
Four of my five summer box office picks have already opened. Transformers: Robots Robots Moon Robots did almost $100 million domestically it’s first “weekend” (it opened on a Wednesday, which helped). Cars 2 did almost $70 million despite almost everyone agreeing it sucked. Green Lantern also apparently sucked but still took in $53 million, and Bad Teacher did $31 million. Right now, I’m standing at $248 million and change, and I’ve still got Captain America to add to my winnings, though the more I see of the promo clips, the worse it looks.
Kris, meanwhile, picked Super 8, which did a surprisingly disappointing $35 million its opening weekend. Horrible Bosses did $28 million, pretty close to Bad Teacher’s take. Waiting in the wings, she has potential cash cow Cowboys & Aliens, and this weekend she’s also got the highly rated Winnie the Pooh opening, though it’s hard to see a quality non-computer generated cartoon really making a ton of bank these days.
Of course, the impending Harry Potter and the Billions and Billions of Dollars also opens this weekend and belongs to her. The final Potter is already breaking records, even before the domestic release. It’s going to be shown on more screens than any other movie, ever, and already has made the most advance ticket sales in history. I suspect it will also have a completely monstrous opening weekend that will easily out-do Transformers, but I’m not sure it’ll be enough for Kris to overtake my box office purse. For her to win, my Captain America will have to have a lackluster opening (which is entirely possible), and her Cowboys & Aliens will have to have a huge one (also entirely possible). We’ll see!
My three RT low-score movie picks are already out, and all scored under 50%, though a couple didn’t do as poorly as I’d hoped. Mr. Popper’s Penguins has a score of 47%, and Transformers came in at 36%. However, my ace in the hole, Zookeepers, came through: 14%. Boo-yah! That gives me a total of 97%.
Meanwhile, Kris picked the sappy Larry Crowne, which is rated at a respectably low 36%, and we’re waiting on Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Spy Kids 4 (both due in August) to see how bad they stink. Why neither of us picked The Smurfs, I can’t recall.
So. Will Harry Potter be the biggest money-maker of all time and blow the lid off the contest? Will a bunch of monkeys attacking America be less appealing than Kevin James falling down and splitting his pants? Only the end of August knows for sure.
Opening Weekend | ||||
Kris | Chris | |||
Harry Potter | Transformers | $97,500,000 | ||
Super 8 | $35,451,168 | Cars 2 | $66,135,507 | |
Cowboys & Aliens | Captain America | |||
Horrible Bosses | $28,302,165 | Green Lantern | $53,185,000 | |
Winnie The Pooh | Bad Teacher | $31,603,106 | ||
Kris Total | $63,753,333 | Chris Total | $248,423,613 | |
Lowest RT Score | ||||
Kris | Chris | |||
Larry Crowne | 36 | Transformers | 36 | |
Rise of Planet of Apes | Zookeeper | 14 | ||
Spy Kids 4 | Popper’s Penguins | 47 | ||
Kris Score | 36 | Chris Score | 97 |
I am vastly amused by this contest.
I have a spreadsheet for it and everything.
Ooh, I think I will start some bets on which (Ch/K)ris-(K/Ch)ris will win each category. My money is on Kris for the monies (I believe in HP versus the dude he always fights) and Chris for the RT (although I have an inexplicable soft spot for Kevin James, I think Zookeeper will retard you to victory).
io9 blog has an interesting review for aforementioned atrocity in which they turn the magnifying glass of hate upon humans as a whole for the existence and content of this movie, instead of just SandlerCo…also some other observations of how the movie dodges some talking animal movie cliches)
Dear Chris,
$43.5 million in box office from just last night. You’re goin’ down, sucka!
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=3209&p=.htm
Love,
Kris
Uh-oh.
1) I had a hell of a time finding the site on this computer, because I kept thinking it was Scenecuisine for some reason.
2) Looks like I called the Battle of the *rises correctly (YES!), though we’ll still see on the RT portion of it.
3) I love that you guys are taunting one another on the site.
4) You all should try Breaking Bad, it has got some nice Odenkirk action.