Pool Rules

Official Rules of the 2024 Summer Movie Pool:

  • The pool officially runs from May 1 to Aug 31.
  • The only eligible movies are those that are released domestically within the listed date range.
  • Submit your Top 10 list of movies in the order that you believe they will finish.
  • Entries will be submitted via email to summermoviepool@gmail.com
  • The 2024 entry deadline is Wednesday 5/1 at 11:59pm PST.
  • At the deadline the pool will lock down so that data can be compiled in time for the first opening weekend.
  • Entry Fee = $10.00 due by Friday May 3.
  • Payment directions are provided in the email invite.
  • The final box office earnings will be tallied on Sept 1, which is when the SMP winner will be determined.
  • The player with the highest # of correct Top 10 picks wins.
  • In the event of a tie the Deviation Score will be calculated among all contenders’ picks.
  • There will always be a 1st Place + 2nd Place + Bonehead Award prize. A 3rd Place prize will be subject to the total # of entries.


All selections will remain confidential not accessed until ready to publish.

All entries will be compiled into a tracking sheet that will be posted to the site before the first weekend of the summer, and then weekly after the Weekend Actuals are made available (typically on Mondays).

Be aware that sometimes studio release dates change, even after the summer begins, so do your best homework. Because the start of the pool is May, any movie that comes out in April will not be allowed as a valid choice. April movies are simply not eligible in an event called the SUMMER Movie Pool.

As tiebreaker clarification, the Deviation Score is a tally of the differences between the predicted rank and the actual rank of each of your movies. The better the prediction, the lower the score. A perfect score would be 0. For example, if you picked Movie A to be #2 and it actually finished #1, you would have a deviation score of 1 for that movie (good job). But if you picked Movie B to be #6, and it actually finished #18, that’s a score of 12 (that’s not good). If you are involved in a tiebreaker at the end of the summer the scores of all 10 of your movies will be added up, and the lowest score among all players involved wins.

And as always, we award a prize for the Bonehead Award. Whoever picks the WORST (least successful) movie gets a designated prize from the pool. The criteria for the Bonehead Award is that the movie must be released in the summer timeframe AND it must earn at least a reported $1.00 at the domestic box office. A movie that is expected to come out in June but is pushed back to October (or even worse… goes straight to streaming) doesn’t count if it doesn’t report any $$$. So if you take a risk in your picks and fail miserably you might still pick up the Bonehead Award, which in its own way is an accomplishment… and you will be forever immortalized in the Hall of Boneheads. Note that if there is a tie for this award the prize will be split.

Payment instructions will be sent via email. All entry fees will be collected by the Pool Administrators and are due by the entry deadline. Any entries that do not have accompanying payments will be deleted. A portion of the prize pot will go toward site maintenance (fees for website domain + hosting). The prize payouts will be revealed to all once the pool is locked.

E-mail us at summermoviepool@gmail.com if any questions including payment instructions.