Weekend Box Office Predictions Game: Dolphin Tale Aims High

September 29, 2011

With Disney's The Lion King out of the picture, box office newcomers 50/50 with Seth Rogen and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Dream House with Daniel Craig, Rachel Weisz and Naomi Watts, and What's Your Number? with Chris Evans and Anna Faris will hope to finish on top. In order to do so, they'll have to take out Moneyball with Brad Pitt and the family film Dolphin Tale, both of which came close to hitting $20 million a piece last weekend.

Our weekly Weekend Box Office Prophet Game is designed to let you predict what each of these films will make at the box office this weekend from Friday, September 30 through Sunday, October 2. Once you log into the site and make your predictions, they are averaged in with the other players to face-off against our Prophet predictions.

The goal is for the player predictions to beat the Prophet predictions by 3 or more films. In the last round, the Prophet won 3-2. The prize for that round awarded to the top player finisher if the players win, Everything Must Go on Blu-ray, rolls into this round and is joined by Scarface on Blu-ray.

Player prediction average scores will automatically update below as new predictions are entered. This round's entry period closes at 8:30pm PST on Thursday, September 29. View each week's individual player results here.

There are currently 38 players up against the Prophet

The entry period for September 30 - Oct 2 has already ended. Follow the weekly results at the Weekend Box Office Prophet main page.

50/50
You have to love the 50/50 cast with Seth Rogen, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Anna Kendrick. This Summit release doesn't have a ton of marketing or word-of-mouth backing it, plus the 2,400 screen count isn't huge. As such, it will have a hard time competing against last week's top films.

All: $12.8 Me: n/a Prophet: $9.7 Actual: $8.6

Dream House
This new horror thriller from Universal boasts a killer (pun intended) cast including Daniel Craig, Rachel Weisz and Naomi Watts, as well as a creepy kid in the dark scene in the trailers. Like the last few horror films, it's arriving on the scene a little early to be taking advantage of Halloween. Opens on 2,700 screens.

All: $12.0 Me: n/a Prophet: $8.6 Actual: $8.1

What's Your Number?
Chris Evans goes from Captain America to an R-rated rom-com. His opposite is Anna Faris. Can either of them carry a film without a brand behind it? I'm skeptical. R-rated comedies have fared well this year so anything's possible. It is the widest new release this weekend on 3,000 screens.

All: $12.2 Me: n/a Prophet: $6.0 Actual: $5.4

Dolphin Tale
With Disney's powerhouse The Lion King out of the way, Warner Bros. is primed to rule the family-friendly box office with Dolphin Tale. The slippery film made $19.2 million last weekend going up against Simba, so it's got to be the favorite to come out on top this weekend.

All: $14.8 Me: n/a Prophet: $14.3 Actual: $13.9

Moneyball
Moneyball had a decent opening with $19.5 million, but expectations had it opening closer to $25 million or more. Brad Pitt is still obviously a draw, but the baseball business theme isn't resonating with audiences like Aaronn Sorkin's previously scripted film The Social Network did. It still has a shot of challenging A Dolphin Tale for first.

All: $14.2 Me: n/a Prophet: $11.8 Actual: $12.0