I hope everyone had a great Father's Day - it looks like everybody did and went to see Incredibles 2 with a record-breaking 182M opening weekend (8th in all-time opening weekends), shattering the record for animated film opening weekends that was previously held by Finding Dory (135M), which was also our number one film in the SMP the year it was released. Jurassic World 2 has a lot of work to do to hit this mark for the top spot of the summer, particularly since Incredibles 2 has an A+ Cinemascore and should give it some legs. Industry people have readjusted the multiplier to 3.3, which would put it at about 6oo million by the end of run.
Oceans 8 managed to hold decently in it's second weekend coming in second with 18.9M, a little lower than the 21M that was predicted at the beginning of the weekend. It "should" be good to finish in the top ten, we will just have to see in the next few weeks how much padding it can add to its good start.
Tag came in with a respectable 14.9 Million - obviously not enough to make it to top 10, but you roll the dice with R-rated comedies. Comparatively, similar R-rated comedy openings (Sex Tape and War Dogs) ended up with a take home of 38-43M.
In other news, I forgot to mention last week that Action Point was pulled from theatres after 2 weeks of miserable box office performances, so it looks like the 4.5M total is where the party ends, but it still more than the two SMP players battling it out for the Bonehead Award, with the Guardians still taking in money it will be a photo finish for last place, much like the dismal reviews of Gotti - although it still is taking in money, mainly because the ticket service MoviePass has bought 40% of the 1.6M opening ticket sales as they invested in the picture. Audiences are a little more forgiving, apparently, as it got a 79% audience score.
Box Office Mojo Weekend Predictions:
1) Incredibles 2 - $182.6 M
2) Oceans 8 - $18.9 M
3) Tag - $14.9 M
5) Solo - $10.0 M
6) Deadpool 2 - 8.6M
7) Superfly - 6.8 M
8) Hereditary - 6.8 M
9) Adrift - 2.2M
10) Book Club - 1.8M
6/15/18
Finally a weekend with a top 3 release - Incredibles 2 is already starting strong in theatres with 18.5M in Thursday previews - to put this into context, it doubles the previous record set by Finding Dory, which ended up as the number one film in the SMP a few years back. All those that picked Incredibles 2 at the number 1 spot are feeling pretty good about now, especially with the lukewarm reviews of Jurassic Park are coming out. There is one SMP player this year that wasn't feeling the Pixar love and left it off their list completely. Incredibles 2 is opening in 4,410 theatres and it is the first animated release since Sherlock Gnomes in March, so it should get a lot of kid love, and we will see if Father's Day weekend brings in the dad love... I love you, Dennis!
Seven bold SMP players chose the other major release this weekend, the R-rated comedy Tag - Box Office Mojo predicts it will make 15.3M in its opening, but I am not so sure it will break out; I saw this video earlier and it doesnt bode well when a passerby recognizes the youtube host, but none of the cast LINK HERE - doesn't look like Jeremy Renner wants to be there...
I did check out Hereditary earlier in the week. I really wanted to motivate myself to see Solo, but I just. Couldnt. Do. It. I give Hereditary high praise and if you want to check out a well done creepy film that won't make the top ten, I would recommend; just don't see it in a theatre that has groups of teenagers, because they just suck.
Box Office Mojo Weekend Predictions:
1) Incredibles 2 - $150.0 M
2) Oceans 8 - $21.2 M
3) Tag - $15.3 M
5) Solo - $9.3 M
6) Deadpool 2 - 8.3M
7) Hereditary - 7.6 M
8) Superfly - 5.5 M
9) Adrift - 2.5M
10) Book Club - 2.3M
Weekend Releases Rotten Tomatoes Scores
1. Incredibles 2 - 94% SUPERFRESH!
2. Tag - 57% ROTTEN!
3. Superfly - 54% ROTTEN!
4. Gotti - 0% A NEW LOW!
5. The Yellow Birds - 44% ROTTEN!
6/11/18
Another weekend in the books and we see a pretty healthy start for Oceans 8 after a few slow weekends at the box office. Oceans 8 opened to 41.6 million, giving it the best opening weekend of the "Oceans" franchise, with a solid B+ Cinemascore from audiences which skewed 69% female.
The second major release Hereditary exceeded expectations bringing in 13 million, higher than expectations by about 1 million. Unfortunatey, audiences weren't as enthusiastic about it, with the marketing calling it "the scariest movie since the Exorcist", you would expect better than the D+ Cinema score from a 58% male audience. The bright side is that A24s other Horror standout The Witch recieved a C- Cinemascore, and it was one of my favorite modern horror releases. Unfortunately, the score doesn't bode well for the movie having a long run due to word-of-mouth.
Poor Han Solo can't catch a break and pulled in 15.7 million to capture 2nd place this past weekend. Overseas it is already puttering out bringing in 11.3 million - I think we will see a bigger drop next weekend with the release of Incredibles 2. A nice postmortem video essay of the Disney era Star Wars films (and previous trilogies) is located HERE
We are going to have a few telling weekends with the releases of The Incredibles 2 and Jurassic World 2 - most players have put both of these films in the top 3, so we will see! Early reviews of the Incredibles have it sitting at 95% with 43 reviews (2 negative Nancies) and Jurassic World 2 less Incredible with 60% out of 94 reviews - it is already playing internationally and taking in a pretty solid box office.
Box Office Mojo Weekend Actuals:
1) Oceans 8 - $41.6 M
2) Solo: A Star Wars Story - $15.7 M
3) Deadpool 2 - $14.1 M
5) Hereditary - $13.5 M
6) Adrift - 5.2M
7) Book Club - 4.2 M
8) Hotel Artemis - 3.2 M
9) Upgrade - 2.3M
10) Life of the Party - 2.1M
6/08/18
With this new weekend we see the debut of a few counterprogramming films that could have an effect on the pool. First, we have Oceans 8, with an all-female cast from the Oceans 11 franchise. It is debuting in a substantial 4,145 theatres and looks to overtake the originals opening weekend haul of 38.1 million in 2001.
The second (and more compelling film, in my opinion) is Hereditary. It has had a strong buzz going into it with very favorable reviews comparing it to the classic Exorcist. That is a pretty bold assessment, but I hope that it does well (just not too well, as I didn't pick it). It has a much smaller theatre count (3,000) so I don't see it making it into the top 3 this weekend.
Solo continues to limp along with a predicted 47% drop to pull in an additional 14.5 million. I am still on the fence about seeing this one in the theatres, and I was the kid that had star wars jeans, shirt, hat and darth vader sneakers as a kid. Just. Not. Excited.
Box Office Mojo Weekend Predictions:
1) Oceans 8 - $45.0 M
2) Solo: A Star Wars Story - $14.5 M
3) Deadpool 2 - $13.0 M
5) Hereditary - $12.0 M
6) Adrift - 7.3M
7) Hotel Artemis - 5.0 M
8) Book Club - 4.6 M
9) Upgrade - 2.5M
10) Life of the Party - 1.9M
Weekend Releases Rotten Tomatoes Scores
1. Hereditary - 94% SUPERFRESH!
2. Oceans 8 - 69% FRESH!
3. Hotel Artemis - 59% ROTTEN!
4. Won't You Be My Neighbor? - 99% NEAR PERFECT!
5. Hearts Beat Loud - 92% Fa-Fa-FRESH!
6/04/18
Well, week two for Solo didn't quite pan out the way Disney would have hoped. Without any new competition, it hobbled its way to falling just shy of the 30M projection. Overseas, Deadpool 2 actually was the number one film. The speculation continues, with analysts says that the poor Box Office was due to poor marketing, not so much competition or fatigue. check out the article - personally, I dont agree with the assessment, but it definitely was a factor. I will leave to poll up for another week to see what the groupthink is.
As for the new releases for the weekend, no big suprises other than Action Point, picked by one player, performing worse than predicted and collecting 2.3 million (estimate was 5.5), and performing the worst of the new releases, and even worse than Breaking In, in its 4th week of release. It seems like it would be expected, but when you look at the Jackass films (and to a lesser degree, bad grandpa), they were hugely successful - the 4 Jackass films have brought Paramount in close to half a BILLION worldwide (WTF?) and Knoxvilles last flick Bad Grandpa pulling in 152 Million worldwide. This, however, is not those films. If you are interested in reading more about the troubles behind the film, check out the article.
Solo will most likely lose its top spot next weekend with the release of Oceans Eight, but I am more excited to see what the results of the horror film Hereditary will be, as it is currently sitting at 98% positive ratings on Rotten Tomatoes - the reviews all (save one) heap on the praise for this film, so it will be interesting to see if it lives up to the hype, or just be "OK" like the also highly praised Get Out. Horror is my wheelhouse so I will enjoy seeing an original horror film and hope it lives up to the hype, like The Witch or It Follows. We will see!
Box Office Mojo Weekend Actuals:
1) Solo: A Star Wars Story - $29.3 M
2) Deadpool 2 - $23.1 M
3) Adrift - $11.6 M
5) Book Club - $7.0 M
6) Upgrade - (1,457 theaters - 4.6M
7) Life of the Party - 3.5 M
8) Breaking In - 2.8 M
9) Action Point - 2.5M
10) Overboard - 1.9M
- Chapman
5/31/18
It is the last day of May and we are officially 25% through the pool!
We can pretty definitively state that the only two May films that will make the top ten at this point will be Deadpool 2 and Solo - and June looks to be a slow starter as well with 3 new releases coming out that are not predicted to make a significant dent in the box office, with the following week also being fairly tame, with Oceans 8 and the potential spoiler Hereditary, with some early reviews (33), it is sitting at 100% on the Tomato Meter...but let's focus on this weeks new films!
Only one new release, Action Park, was picked by one of our movie pool players. This stars 2 Jackass alumni in a film about an unsafe theme park based on a real-life park in New Jersey. Box Office Mojo has it predicted to make 5.5M this weekend, not even cracking the top 5. No reviews are out for it yet, so I don't hold a lot of faith that it will be breaking any records.
Box Office Mojo Weekend Estimates:
1) Solo: A Star Wars Story -(4,381 theaters) - $30.0 M
2) Deadpool 2 -(4,161 theaters) - $22.6 M
3) Adrift -(3,015 theaters) - $13.0 M
5) Book Club - (3,169 theaters) - $7.3 M
6) Action Point - (2,032 theaters) - 5.5M
7) Life of the Party - (2,511 theaters) - 2.8M
8) Breaking In - (1,682 theaters) - 2.6M
9) Upgrade - (1,457 theaters - 2.5M
10) Overboard - (1,228 theaters ) - 4.1M
Rotten Tomatoes freshness ratings: Upgrade = 84% (87% by the Top Critics) Adrift = 67% (71% by the Top Critics) Action Point = 21% (22% by the Top Critics)
- Chapman
5/29/18
Alrighty then! A not-so-spectacular holiday weekend for Solo - Even with reduced expectations it barely scraped by over the 100M mark. It will make the top ten list for the summer, but it will definitely cause some finger pointing at Disney. They are scrambling right now to determine what went wrong. Was it due to Star Wars fatigue? After all, Solo came out 5 months after the poorly recieved Last Jedi. Was it due to the negative buzz surrounding the film after dumping the original directors and bringing in Ron Howard? Was it backlash to the politically correct/SJW nature of the latest crop of SW films, or as Forbes postulates, is it because it has a white guy in the lead? I actually turned off my ad blocker to skim through the garbage article located here to give you some weekend insight.
Looking back historically, it was a terrible Memorial Day weekend; interestingly enough, Our buddy Harrison Ford (the one true Han Solo) is no stranger to Memorial Day weekend - All 3 Indiana Jones sequels and Return of the Jedi were are released on Memorial Day weekend. The terrible Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull is the only film out of those listed that beat Solo for a Memorial Day weekend opening. Solo fared better than films like Jurassic Park:Lost World and Return of the Jedi, more than tripling its opening weekend revenue, but its also 35 years later.
Vote in the new poll as to what you think the reason for Solo's lackluster opening is!
Box Office Mojo Holiday Weekend Results: 1) Solo: A Star Wars Story - 103M 2) Deadpool 2 - 53.8M 4) Book Club - 13M 5) Life of the Party - 6.8M 6) Breaking In - 5.5M 7) Show Dogs - 4.3M 8) Overboard - 4.1M
- Chapman
5/25/18
Big Memorial Day weekend with the release of Solo: A Star Wars story. I don't know if it is just the years of being burned, but I just am not all that interested in this film. It could be that I am expecting the worst as it has gone through filming twice with multiple directors, or it could be that they have had a lot of trouble behind the scenes - a good review of the events that happened during production is found here -
I guess the good news is that there are no other movies willing to compete with the release date with only a few indie films in a few theatres (that neither Ed or Ted picked). There is still some carryover from both Deadpool 2 and Avengers 3 which will limit the amount of revenue that Solo will bring in. It is still predicted to top the Memorial Day weekend release charts, overtaking Pirates of the Carribean: At Worlds End 11 years ago. It has the added benefit of being released on a record-setting 4,381 theatres and a BO prediction of 130-150 million, although some industry insiders have it pegged for a 105-115M opening. The reviews are looking OK, suprisingly, with most of the reviews saying it was entertaining, but without a lot of depth. That is the perfect formula for our good buddy Devo Borg! It will be interesting to see how this unfolds, but it will be a easy layup since everybody picked it (except Ted). It will only be the second film of the summer to cross 100 million so far! It should have a good few weeks as next weekend has some forgettable releases, with only one film (Action Point) being picked by one SMP player with dreams of a sleeper hit.
Box Office Mojo Holiday Weekend Predictions: 1) Solo: A Star Wars Story - 108M 2) Deadpool 2 - 53.5M 4) Book Club - 10M 5) Life of the Party - 4.2M 6) Breaking In - 3.2M 8) Overboard - 2.1M
Rotten Tomatoes freshness ratings: Solo: A Star Wars Story = 71% (60% by the Top Critics)
Theater count: Solo: A Star Wars Story = 4,381 Deadpool 2 = 4,349 Book Club = 2,810 Show Dogs = 3,212
CinemaScore ratings: Solo: A Star Wars Story = NA Deadpool 2 = A Book Club = A- Show Dogs = A-
- Chapman
5/21/18
Ok this is your last weekend update by Berg, as Chapman is back in town. Until next time..... deuces.
Current Top 10:
FINALLY we get some action this summer. The last time we had a SMP start this slowly it was kicked off by Kingdom of Heaven. Yeesh. Thank you Deadpool 2 for bringing the action, the laughs, and the big bucks. $125M later and it's the star of the Standings. That kind of opening should certainly put it in the Top 5, and its average placement of 3.4 is looking pretty good. Book Club ($13M) and Show Dogs ($6M), not so much.
Next weekend we get another elite release in Solo: A Star Wars Story. Will be interesting to see this and DP2 duke it out over the upcoming weeks.
- SB
5/18/18
Oops still no Chapman this weekend. Good thing Berg has it covered. Whew.
Boxoffice.com's predictions for this weekend: 1) Deadpool 2 - 133M (133M) 3) Book Club - 11.2M (11.2M) 4) Show Dogs - 8.2M (8.2M) 5) Life of the Party - 7.3M (30.3M) 6) Breaking In - 6.8M (29.5M) 7) Overboard - 5.7M (38M)
Rotten Tomatoes freshness ratings: Deadpool 2 = 84% (67% by the Top Critics) Book Club = 59% (59% by the Top Critics) Show Dogs = 26% (33% by the Top Critics)
Theater count: Deadpool 2 = 4,349 Book Club = 2,781 Show Dogs = 3,145
CinemaScore ratings: Deadpool 2 = A Book Club = A- Show Dogs = A-
- SB
5/14/18
Alright, your buddy Berg is back with some analysis of our 2018 Summer Movie Pool picks. Enjoy!
31 different movies were selected this summer, which is 7 more than 2017. The loss of Avengers: Infinity War may have had a little something to do with that, forcing people to go in other (some crazy) directions. Love it! Of the 31 selected, while the choices for Bonehead amazingly get uglier each year, this year we have 5 that are legit Bonehead-worthy, 2 of them being Limited-release. Here's a tip for all: Criteria #1 for making a selction should be "Is my movie going Wide release?" If not, cross it off. Just 2 minutes of research can save someone a summer of embarassment lol. While I stand by my annual advice of "nobody really knows anything", we do know that Limited-release movies will NEVER make Top 10. But hey, for those that choose to go their own way, we thank you for the laughs :D
Here are the numbers that we should keep an eye on for each 'major' movie this summer (Wide release + a minumum 10 selections):
Life of the Party - May 11 10 people / Avg placement = 8.3 / Highest placement = 5 With the move of Infinity War, 10 players hoped to capitalize on our first real option of the summer. It didn't work out.
Deadpool 2 - May 18 68 people / Avg placement = 3.4 / Highest placement = 1 A unanimous selection, wisely so. Early negative fanboy reviews be damned.
Solo: A Star Wars Story - May 25 67 people / Avg placement = 2.4 / Highest placement = 1 1 player doesn't like Star Wars. Interestinggggg. Production troubles be damned.
Hereditary - June 8 11 people / Avg placement = 8.9 / Highest placement = 6 We nearly always see a horror/thriller make the cut, and if it's going to happen in 2018 this could be the one. The buzz is big... but I didn't think either trailer showed the goods. Def a risky pick.
Ocean's 8 - June 8 57 people / Avg placement = 7.8 / Highest placement = 3 We have our big-name female-centric flick of the summer. And the tie-in to the original Ocean's trilogy helps keeps dudes interested. Smart.
The Incredibles 2 - June 15 67 people / Avg placement = 2.6 / Highest placement = 1 Apparently 1 person doesn't like Pixar. Big mistake. The original is my very favorite Pixar of all, and this is my personal #1 choice of 2018.
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom - June 22 68 people / Avg placement = 2.3 / Highest placement = 1 Another unanimous decision. Looks better than the original JW, which startled up $652M in 2015. We'll take half that this year. Easy lock.
Sicario: Day of the Soldado - June 29 12 people / Avg placement = 8.6 / Highest placement = 7 LOVE the bold picks, but I just couldn't do it myself. The original made $46M in 2015, so the jump to $100M+ may be a stretch. But it is a weak list overall, so you never know.
Ant-Man and the Wasp - July 6 65 people / Avg placement = 5.0 / Highest placement = 2 It's Marvel. Enough said. The original made $180M in 2015. This could do even more now that we are past the skeptecism. And we need to see how this ties into Infinity War.
Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation - July 13 49 people / Avg placement = 7.4 / Highest placement = 4 The originals did $148M and then $169M in 2015 (so many 2015 references), so maybe the trend continues. Or just tanks. Does Adam Sandler even matter anymore? I'm thinking parents gotta take the little kids to see something.
Skyscraper - July 13 39 people / Avg placement = 8.5 / Highest placement = 6 After last year's "confident" Rock didn't make Top 10 (mostly due to douchey Zac Efron) we get "family man / reluctant hero" Rock. A swing movie, with just over half of us banking on this version to bring in the cash.
Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again! - July 20 23 people / Avg placement = 8.5 / Highest placement = 6 No. Just no. I had it in my first list and couldn't live with the selection. The original made $144M way back in 2008, and I'm not sure if there was ever a demand for another one.
Mission: Impossible - Fallout - July 27 66 people / Avg placement = 6.3 / Highest placement = 4 The ultimate summer movie franchise. Always a blast. The last one (also in... wait for it... 2015) made $195M, so all but 2 players should be feeling good about the selection.
Disney's Christopher Robin - August 3 17 people / Avg placement = 7.9 / Highest placement = 5 A tough selection with only a teaser trailer to work with at cutoff time. Aside from the Alice sequel, Disney live action versions of their animated films have performed quite impressively.
The Meg - August 10 14 people / Avg placement = 9.2 / Highest placement = 4 I love this selection. Huge risk with only 3 full box office weekends, but could be pretty fun. And comes out right on the heels of Shark Week.
I may not have picked all of them, but these are the movies I really want to see the most in theaters: Deadpool 2, Solo: A Star Wars Story, The Incredibles 2, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdon, Under the Silver Lake, Sicario: Day of the Soldado, Ant-Man and the Wasp, and Mission: Impossible - Fallout. I have MoviePass, so as long as it's still operational I'll see them all.
I hope everyone enjoys this summer as much as I will. Too bad Sponge ONCE AGAIN has identical picks as me. Stop doing that!!!
- SB
5/13/18
Hey all! Your buddy Berg is back with some weekend analysis while Chapman is away on the other side of the Earth. Well, wherever he is it's not the US of A. I know you missed me, and a proper recap, so here we go!
Current Top 10:
Two weeks in and it's Overboard still sitting atop the list. Take a picture, TJV, as this is the last time you'll see it there. Looks like Melissa McCarthy wasn't any Life of the Party, as thanks to an opening of only $18M we've got our first bomb of the summer. 10+ people taking a movie is recognized as a "major" selection in SMP-land, and now 11 players are sad. Thanks, MM. Breaking In was even worse with $16M, and of the three who selected it, xwolf612 took BOTH new releases. That ties Tanner as the only players with two stinkers so far. Doh!
And our Bonehead race just heated up with the addition of ChargersEd's sleeper pick Revenge. Maybe it was a misclick when his entry was made? I really hope so, as $46K is no bueno.
- SB
5/10/18
Coming into the 2nd weekend of the 2018 Summer Movie Pool we have 3 new contenders, all 3 picked by SMP veterans, and marking the comeback of long-time vet Kurt Weierstall. Do they know something we don't? We will see at the close of the weekend but early estimates don't look promising.
Box Office Mojo's weekend predictions
1. Avengers: Infinity War (4,474 theaters) - $62.0 M
2. Life of the Party (3,656 theaters) - $21.0 M
3. Breaking In (2,537 theaters) - $18.0 M
4.Overboard (2,006 theaters) - $9.0 M
...and Revenge is opening in limited release so they don't have a predicition (hopefully higher than last weeks Guardians).
Weekend Releases Rotten Tomatoes Scores
1. Revenge 90% FRESH!
2. Life of the party 38% ROTTEN!
3. Breaking In 34% ROTTEN!
- MC
5/9/18
Happy Birthday to my second in command, Stevie Steve! I couldn't do it without you, buddy!
- MC
5/7/18
Weekend one is in the bag! Congrats to the 68 players making it the second highest attendance for the summer movie pool in 21 years. The prize money breaks down as follows:
1st Place = $500.00 2nd Place = $100.00 3rd Place = $30.00 Bonehead Award = $10.00
The remaining $40 will apply towards administration to the website(domain and hosted server maintenance). A nice haul for the champ. This year we are also raising the bounty with custom trophies for both the first-place winner and the bonehead - expect to see these trophies shortly - they arent quite ready for primetime just yet...
On to the weekly breakdown - No suprises as Avengers 3 once again dominated the box office with $112.5 million, pushing it over the billion dollar mark, making history with it becoming the fastest film to make it to a billion dollars. The second place film, new release Overboard, clocked in at a respectable 14.75 mil. Probably not enough to carry it to the top 15 this year, but much better than the $7,479 that Guardians pulled in (no zeroes are left off that number) - making it a strong contender for the Bonehead award, but maybe they will extend the theatre count beyond the single theatre it was released in. Now that everyones picks are out there for scorn and ridicule, we can take a look at where everybody sits, and start counting down until the end where players see themselves fall out of contention as their movie drops from 3rd place, to 4th place, to fifth. I've been there. It sucks.
If you didn't make the list above, congratulations! you get to sit back and relax if your pics do well as you will have nobody to compete with and not suffer like the souls above who didn't march to the beat of their own drummer, like you have. One of those souls gets the added bonus of coming out of the gate on fire, selecting two films in the first weekend of summer. If the prize money went to, "who is in first place after the first weekend", you would be the winner! Unfortunately, the only thing that your picks got you was two movie pool posters, which in some people's eyes, is worth more than the prize money! Congrats Ted, you earned it!
- MC
5/4/18
22 players with no selections were removed from this year's SMP. We have 68 completed entries. Awesome! Next up... identifying payments. If you still haven't paid your $10 entry be sure to hit us up at summermoviepool@gmail.com to be provided directions.
All non-selected Limited release movies were removed as well. All Wide releases remained so that they don't have to be re-added manually once they make $$$. The 2018 Original Picks can now be viewed in Excel format in the Weekly Spreadsheets page. Enjoy!
- SB
5/4/18
It's 2018 SMP time!!! Registration is now closed, and the Startup Links including the Make Picks page have been disabled and removed. There are 85 listings in the Scoreboard, but 17 of those are 2017 players who did not return. Those players will be removed. Limited release movies that were not selected will also be removed from the Standings to help tidy things up.
Best of luck to those who selected movies this weekend. They are not Avengers: Infinity War, so their box office will certainly be lacking.
- SB
5/3/18
Let's get this started!!! Ehhhh not a strong intro to the summer with the loss of Avengers: Infinity War. Yuck.
Boxoffice.com's predictions for this weekend:
2) Overboard - 14M (14M)
6) Tully - 3.9M (3.9M)
9) Bad Samitarian - 1.9M (1.9M)
Rotten Tomatoes freshness ratings: Overboard = 30% (36% by the Top Critics) Tully = 90% (90% by the Top Critics) Bad Samitarian = 55% (27% by the Top Critics)
Last chance to get your picks in before the site locks down and Registration is closed. ~24 hours remain.
- SB
5/1/18
30 payments are in already, and only 3 days left to get those picks in and payments made. We know the rest will come pouring in quickly. Last year was a record 70 participants, so let's see if we can shatter that record.
- SB
4/27/18
One week left!! The picks and payments are starting to roll in, so don't get left behind. You can enter your picks and then make edits at any time up until game-lock: 5/3/18 at 11:59pm PST.
So Marvel Studios pulled a fast one on us and recently moved our no-brainer #1 movie up and out of the summer window. That's a shame as Avengers: Infinity War is NOT a selectable film (April movies do not count in the SMP), yet is projected to do $235M. What resulted is the elimination of a movie that EVERYONE would have picked, thus creating a more challenging pool. I don't know about you but I'm really having a tough time deciding on my bottom-of-the-list movies.
- SB
4/3/18
Since the 2018 invite had gone out to all players we've had a couple inquiries regarding Avengers: Infinity War and Marvel's late decision to move the release date up from May 4 to April 27. We certainly appreciate the input you've provided, and we'd like to take this opportunity to identify our stance.
Avengers will not be part of the SMP this year, as it moved right out of our summer timeframe. There is precedent, as Fast Five did the same thing in 2011, having moved up from the original June 10 date to April 29. The decision was made then to not create an exception, and we all enjoyed a great summer. Avengers' departure isn't necessarily a bad thing, as it's a pretty safe bet that 100% of players would have picked it, most likely atop their list. Not much competitiveness there. A concern is if studios continue this trend, where do we stop? Two other F&F movies came out in early April, and the highest-grossing April movie ever (The Jungle Book) came out on April 15. If we allow late-April, soon it will be middle-April. And then it will become early-April. At some point we just have to stick to the summer schedule, and if the studios make changes, so be it. I'm personally looking forward to a pool that doesn't included a guaranteed Top Three film that most likely EVERYONE would pick.
- SB
4/2/18
Who's ready for Year XXI of the most awesome annual Summer Movie Pool everrrrrrrrrrr?!?! New banner... check (another great one from Chapman). Cleaned up site pages... check. New list of 2018 summer movies entered... check. Game on!!!
2017 RECAP
2016 saw a 3% increase from 2015 with a total $4.3B, but 2017 sure gave it all back with $3.7B - the worst summer in 11 years. While we had our monster hits in May (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 - $389M), June (Wonder Woman - $407M), and July (Spider-Man: Homecoming - $320M), where was August?? Not a single marquee film in a month that was led by $81M for Annabelle: Creation. Yeahhhh that's no good.
WW came as a bit of a surprise finishing #1, as it's average placement was 4.6. GOTG2 only missed #1 by $20M, nearly matching it's own avg place rating of 1.1. And Spidey's #3 finish was spot on it's avg place rating of 3.6. Even Despicable Me 3 finishing #4 closely matched it's avg place rating of 3.3. Collectively we weren't too far off for each of the remaining Top 10 films... but where in the heck did Girls Trip come from? I looked back at my initial research and I had it at $44M. NO ONE saw this coming. To think that just $110M would have made Top 10 for any other film this summer. I'm looking at you, The Mummy :( 19 movies so far this year have earned at least $110M, but only 9 during the summer.
Geez, are we looking at only 8 in 2018? This summer we had 12 sequels/reboots with only 3 exceeding their previous installment. 2016 had 14 and 4. You'd think at some point Hollywood would wake up.
For the SMP, once again 8 was the magic number, and we had 15 players hit that mark. Big tiebreaker! And for the EIGHTH straight year we've had someone new win the top prize. Congrats to xfactor (Mike McPherson) for becoming our 15th different person to win in our 20 total years. Things got a little hairy there at the end with the final shuffling, but Mike was able to keep the second-placers at arm's length to win in just his 3rd year of playing. Nice work!
Mike wins the 1st Place prize of $500 - our biggest payout yet!. Brandon and Kevin tied for 2nd Place, so they split the 2nd + 3rd prize money for $80 each. Great work in your very first SMPs! Just emember, EVERYONE has a shot at winning this thing.
And we can't forget our beloved Bonehead Award. Amityville: The Awakening did not make any $$$, so it did not qualify for the Bonehead. That leaves us with The Wall ($1.8M) which happened to be selected by not one or two, but THREE players. Ok we've never had a three-way tie for the Bonehead. This just keeps getting better! Our "winners" Ted Venable, Justin Kane, and Lindsay Pate all get to share the $10 prize. Congrats! lol
Here are our previous winners:
2017 - Mike McPherson
2016 - Curt Perone
2015 - Mario Nelson
2014 - Mark Adolphus
2013 - Ally Mauro
2012 - Sponge
2011 - Kelly Peterson
2010 - Kurt Weierstall
2009 - Steve Berg
2008 - Justin Klein
2007 - Tim Driscoll
2006 - Steve Berg
2005 - Larry Pennington
2004 - Chic Meyers
2003 - Todd Fiore / Dave Logan / Jaime McGauley (tie)
2002 - Steve Berg
2001 - Steve Berg
2000 - Mike Chapman
1999 - Steve Berg
1998 - Steve Berg
RULES
The rules of the game are simple. Select a Top Ten list of summer movies, and then rank them in the order that you believe they will finish. The pool runs from May 1 to Aug 31, so the only eligible movies are those that release within that date range. Your picks AND entry fee must be submitted before the site locks for the summer.
The process for RETURNING MEMBERS couldn't be easier:
1) Log in
2) Make Picks
Those who played in 2017 are already registered on the site. Your User Name should be your first initial + last name (example: TStark). The Scoreboard page has been left open to help identify. If you've forgotten your password just send an email to summermoviepool@gmail.com to have your profile deleted. You can then re-create a new one.
The process for NEW MEMBERS and those who skipped 2017 is almost as easy:
1) Register (follow the criteria listed on the page)
2) Log in
3) Make Picks
The cutoff for entries is the first Friday of May, so the time to confirm entries and track payments will be limited. As such, the deadline for submitting your picks will be the first Thursday of May at 11:59pm PST. At that point the site will lock and no further entries will be accepted. The entire month of April is more than enough time to assemble your picks and submit them.
On May 4 all picks will be revealed on the Current Standings page. Enjoy... and good luck!!
- SB
3/21/18
We are working on a new ShoutBox for the site. Looks like the old one died.
- SB
3/20/18
We're close to the start of the 2018 Summer Movie Pool, and the website is currently being updated for the upcoming season. Now is the perfect time to research this summer's movies and start building your lists. The email invite to 2017's participants will go out soon.
For now, feel free to check out the Previous Years, Official Posters, Photo Gallery, and Hall of Boneheads links to reminisce. Stay tuned!
