Weekend Box Office Predictions Game: Mercenaries, Killer Fish and a Nanny

August 17, 2010

Five new films hit theaters this weekend which would wipe clean all previous films from our Weekend Box Office Prophet Game if they were included. Given the strong performance of The Expendables last weekend, I've decided to drop Vampires Suck from this round (due to its early Wednesday bow) and pit the four other newcomers versus Sylvester Stallone and his hired guns.

Battling The Expendables and open for your predictions below are Lottery Ticket with Bow Wow and friends, Nanny McPhee Returns, Piranha 3D with Richard Dreyfuss, Elizabeth Shue, Adam Scott, Jerry O'Connell, Ving Rhames and Christopher Lloyd, and The Switch with Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman. Once logged in at TheHDRoom, all you have to do is predict what each of these films will make at the box office between Friday, August 20 and Sunday, August 22. 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 and The Diplomat on Blu-ray. If the Prophet comes out on top then these prizes will roll into the next round and be joined by a third. We will still award a small DVD prize to the top player finisher in this event (overall game leaderboard).

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, August 19, with this round's results being published Monday evening in our box office actuals report. Good luck to all!

There are currently 65 players up against the Prophet

The entry period for August 20 - 22 has already ended. Follow the weekly results at the Weekend Box Office Prophet main page.

Lottery Ticket
Bow Wow and Ice Cube headline this ensemble comedy aiming for Tyler Perry returns against worse odds than drawing a winning ticket. It should perform in the same territory its opening weekend that Just Married, Just Wright and Death at a Funeral did. In other words, not very strong. Opens on only 1,900 screens.

All: $11.1 Me: n/a Prophet: $10.2 Actual: $10.7

Nanny McPhee Returns
The original Nanny opened to $14.5 million on 2,100 screens over 4 years ago. The sequel gets a boost to over 2,600 screens and carries a more recognizable name after the original's strong home video run. A late summer opening after the kiddies have returned to school could have an adverse affect on earnings.

All: $13.7 Me: n/a Prophet: $12.8 Actual: $8.4

Piranha 3D
The spring break gone wrong horror homage/remake in 3D was pulled from its spring opening (probably to save Lake Havasu's tourism for the week) and gets a fall release instead. It promises scads of gore and nakedness, everything you'd want from a killer fish flick. Opens on 2,500 screens.

All: $15.9 Me: n/a Prophet: $12.3 Actual: $10.1

The Switch
The odd couple of Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman limp onto 1,700 screens in the little publicized romantic comedy The Switch. Arriving in a crowded weekend with Eat Pray Love playing strong won't help this film's cause. Expect an opening on par with or worse than Aniston's Love Happens.

All: $10.3 Me: n/a Prophet: $7.4 Actual: $8.4

The Expendables
Audiences loved The Expendables all the way to a $34.8 million opening weekend. A weak field of newcomers lead by Vampires Sucks (which opens on Wednesday) could lead to a second straight weekend win for Sly Stallone's actioneer with little more than a high teens performance.

All: $19.4 Me: n/a Prophet: $18.6 Actual: $17.0