So! The long, stupid summer of stupid summer movies is winding to a end, and we can now more or less officially close the book on our First Annual Summer Movie Fantasy League.
Heading into August, I only had about an $8 million box office lead over Kris, and we each had a movie left: I had Captain America, and she had Cowboys & Aliens. CA set a high mark with a $65 million domestic opening weekend, and C&A just couldn’t match it, coming in with a little over $36 million.
In terms of our lowest Rotten Tomatoes movie scores, I was doing well thanks to the ultra-rotten Zookeeper, and the slightly rotten Transformers 3: Robots Etc. and Mr. Popper’s Penguins, giving me a score of 95 between all three movies. Unfortunately for Kris, one of her picks, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, has so far managed a surprisingly high RT score of 82, shocking the entire world, who thought it would be a stupid movie with stupid CGI apes. But, apparently, it’s pretty good.
Along with her first pick of Larry Crowne, which did a respectably poor 35%, that puts her at a total of 117. While Kris still has one movie left, Spy Kids 4, it would have to score a negative 22 to tie me. I’m sure it will be rotten, but it just can’t be quite that rotten.
Our third contest also went to me, where I picked Submarine to get a better RT score than her pick, Another Earth. My pick wound up with an 87, and hers managed a 63.
Final scores below! Also, I rule in guessing things about summer movies! Whoo!
| Opening Weekend | ||||
| Kris | Chris | |||
| Harry Potter | $169,189,427 | Transformers | $97,852,865 | |
| Super 8 | $35,451,168 | Cars 2 | $66,135,507 | |
| Cowboys & Aliens | $36,431,290 | Captain America | $65,058,524 | |
| Horrible Bosses | $28,302,165 | Green Lantern | $53,185,000 | |
| Winnie The Pooh | $7,857,076 | Bad Teacher | $31,603,106 | |
| Kris Total | $277,231,126 | Chris Total | $313,835,002 | |
| Lowest RT Score | ||||
| Kris | Chris | |||
| Larry Crowne | 35 | Transformers | 36 | |
| Rise of Planet of Apes | 82 | Zookeeper | 12 | |
| Spy Kids 4 | Popper’s Penguins | 47 | ||
| Kris Score | 117 | Chris Score | 95 | |
| Highest RT Score | ||||
| Kris | Score | Chris | Score | |
| Another Earth | Â 63 | Submarine | 87 | |
| Kris Score | 63 | Chris Score | 87 |
I had a bad feeling fairly early on when Super 8 didn’t really pan out. Then, it sunk in that I picked Winnie the Pooh. However, I didn’t expect to get so completely killed in every single category.
So, a tip of the cap to you.
Next year, I’m doing my research and plan on going against my gut instincts.
I definitely expected a lot more from Super 8 and C&A. And there’s just no way to guess that Rise of the Planet of James Franco could have been a critical hit. You just had some bad luck! And also I’m awesome.
Aw Kris!
Don’t feel bad Kris, at least you kicked a ton of ass with Harry Potter!
Man, I really want to see Rise of the Planet of the Apes now.
Hey Chris, have you seen Submarine? I rewatched it on DVD last night. When I saw it at the cinema I MAY have had a few pints of beer. This caused me to laugh far more than anyone else in the cinema.
It’s a damn good film, even if I see far too much of myself in the main character.
Haven’t seen it yet, but I’m sure we will.
How is it even possible for Rise of the Planet of the Apes not to suck? Does this not defy the laws of physics or something?
Rise of the Planet of the Apes, is, in fact, amazing. I was not expecting much, even with the surprisingly high Rotten Tomatoes score; It just seemed impossible that it could be anything but a lame rehash.
It is anything but a lame rehash. It’s incredibly fun and satisfying. It pulls at your heartstrings just the right amount. Fantastic performance by Andy Serkis, and the CGI is absolutely brilliant. This is not a movie you want to miss.