Weekend Box Office Predictions Game: Machete, Clooney and Barrymore

September 01, 2010

Takers and The Last Exorcism enjoyed a photo finish last weekend and must now square off against a trio of thematically opposed newcomers. George Clooney looks for some action in The American, Justin Long and Drew Barrymore look for love in Going the Distance, and Danny Trejo seeks revenge and maximum carnage in Robert Rodriguez' Machete.

These are the five films eligible for you to predict their box office total between Friday, September 3 and Sunday, September 9 in his new round of our weekly interactive Weekend Box Office Prophet Game. Your predictions will be averaged in with the other players to go up against The Prophet predictions.

Should the average player differences between the actual box office gross and predicted grosses beat the Prophet for 3 or more of the 5 films, the top player will win Date Night (Blu-ray), The Diplomat (Blu-ray) and NCIS Los Angeles: The Complete First Season (DVD), as well as the additional new prize this week Machine Gun McCain (Blu-ray). If the Prophet comes out on top then these prizes will roll into the next round and be joined by a fifth! We will still award a small DVD prize to the top player finisher should this occur (overall game leaderboard).

Reminder: The American opened on Wednesday so it will have been in theaters for two days prior to this weekend.

Once you are successfully logged in, the average player scores will update in real time below as new predictions are entered. The entry period will close at 9pm PST Thursday, September 2, with this round's results being published sometime Monday in our box office actuals report. Get hacking on those predictions!

There are currently 52 players up against the Prophet

The entry period for September 3 - 5 has already ended. Follow the weekly results at the Weekend Box Office Prophet main page.

The American
The American got a head start on the other two newcomers by opening two days earlier on Wednesday. Focus Features has been heavily promoting the George Clooney action vehicle but reviews suggest a slow and methodical execution that will have a hard time catching on with mainstream audiences. Opens on 2,700 screens.

All: $16.8 Me: n/a Prophet: $12.1 Actual: $13.2

Going the Distance
Drew Barrymore and Justin Long practice making out in public in this new romantic comedy from New Line. What seems like an indie match made in heaven is generating little buzz to help fill the just over 3,000 screens it will open on. Long didn't exactly pull in the big crowds with After.Life.

All: $14.1 Me: n/a Prophet: $14.0 Actual: $6.9

Machete
Scott Pilgrim and Piranha 3D's ho hum openings prove audiences aren't rushing out to theaters for excess or niche genre fare. That's exactly where Machete falls, the latest from Robert Rodriguez that promises boobs, gore and violence galore. Don't forget the Hispanic action hero draw potential. It opens on 2,500 screens.

All: $16.2 Me: n/a Prophet: $13.3 Actual: $11.4

Takers
Last weekend's box office champ won by a hair and comes into its second frame riding solid word of mouth and talk of a prequel. How far below its $20.5 million opening should be measured in double rather than single digit millions for its second weekend.

All: $11.4 Me: n/a Prophet: $11.2 Actual: $10.9

The Last Exorcism
The Last Exorcism narrowly lost to Takers with $20.4 million last weekend and is trailing that film each day this week thus far. Horror films tend to drop steeply after their opening weekend so expect Exorcism to come in at least 10% less than whatever Takers brings in.

All: $9.9 Me: n/a Prophet: $8.8 Actual: $7.3