Weekend Box Office Predictions Game: Cops Aim at Alice in Wonderland

March 03, 2010

You guys really came to play in the last round of the Weekend Box Office Prophet game. Nine players missed the combined predictions of five films by less than $10 million (view the leaderboard). Good job! Though the Prophet won the round 3-1-1 (view the results) versus the players, we're still going to toss a DVD to laureyrob for coming out on top in such a hotly contested round.

Peeking down the rabbit hole this upcoming weekend sees Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland in 3D plow into theaters while Overture Films counter-programs with Antoine Fuqua's tension filled Brooklyn's Finest. The top finisher is obvious, but how much dough will Johnny Depp and co. rake in?

The object of this game is to guess the final domestic box office dollars in millions for these five films from Friday, March 5 through Sunday, March 7. Your prediction is averaged in with the other players for a cumulative score to compete 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 SIX prizes for an instant Blu-ray collection:

Mystic River on Blu-ray Disc
Walk the Line on Blu-ray Disc
Halo Legends on Blu-ray Disc
Universal Soldier Regeneration on DVD
The Running Man on Blu-ray Disc
NEW THIS WEEK: Gentlemen Broncos on Blu-ray Disc

If the Prophet wins then all six prizes will rollover into the next round and be joined by a sixth. Should 65 or more players participate and the Prophet wins, the top finisher will receive a separate prize while the other prizes will roll into next week. Be sure to get out on the social web and help get some new people playing.

Once you are logged in, the average player scores will update in real time below as new predictions are entered. The entry period will close the evening of Thursday, March 4, with this round's results being published in the next round's game page on Tuesday.

There are currently 61 players up against the Prophet

The entry period for March 5 - 7 has already ended. Follow the weekly results at the Weekend Box Office Prophet main page.

Alice in Wonderland (2010)
Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland is set for a huge opening despite critics tearing into the film's direction, acting and inferior 3D effects. To many, any return to Wonderland is worth exploring - especially one with Burton and Johnny Depp's name attached. Alice bows on approx. 3,400 screens.

All: $51.7 Me: n/a Prophet: $57.1 Actual: $116.1

Brooklyn's Finest
Hoping to attract the anti-Burton crowd is Overture Film's Brooklyn's Finest, an urban crime drama starring big names Don Cheadle, Richard Gere and Ethan Hawke. It's from Antoine Fuqua, the director of Training Day, and that film opened to $22.5 million on 2,700 screens. Finest opens on 1,800.

All: $14.1 Me: n/a Prophet: $17.6 Actual: $13.4

Shutter Island
Shutter Island enters its third weekend coming off a 44.8% drop last weekend and a second straight top finish with $22.7 million. Alice will surely bump it this weekend, but Shutter has an outside chance of placing second as word of mouth continues to push new audiences to see it.

All: $15.2 Me: n/a Prophet: $12.5 Actual: $13.2

Cop Out (Glock Out Edition)
Kevin Smith's Cop Out had an average opening of $18.2 million but any buzz it gained from Smith's Southwest incident is long gone. It will still own the comedy niche and might pick up some spillover from Alice sellouts. That shouldn't be enough for it to enjoy a small drop in traffic.

All: $10.9 Me: n/a Prophet: $8.8 Actual: $9.3

The Crazies (2010)
What, no Avatar? I promised Avatar was on its last legs so here we are with The Crazies capping this round. It opened to a more than respectable $16.1 million last weekend and had a slightly smaller Monday drop than Cop Out or Shutter Island. Crazy, isn't it?

All: $10.7 Me: n/a Prophet: $9.2 Actual: $7.1