box office derby results

so our first weekend in the public spotlight turned out to be a sour one. but it's ice cube's fault, not ours. here's the top 12 for the weekend.

1. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy 21.1 NEW
2. The Interpreter 13.8 -39%
3. XXX: State of the Union 12.7 NEW
4. The Amityville Horror 7.9 -43%
5. Sahara 5.7 -37%
6. A Lot Like Love 5.1 -33%
7. Fever Pitch 3.5 -36%
8. Kung Fu Hustle 3.3 -51%
9. Robots 2.3 -34%
10. Guess Who 2.2 -39%
11. Sin City 2.0 -46%
12. The Pacifier 1.4 -36%

the numbers next to the film above are its weekend gross and the percentage that its gross dropped from last weekend.

so a quick analysis here. the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy is number 1, but there's not really much to celebrate. it will probably drop big like sci-fi fanboy movies do and wind up with less than $100 million. which is fine, but hardly the start of the summer blockbuster people were hoping for.

then there's xxx. what the hell happened? this movie played to crickets nationwide. it scored the lowest debut ever for a movie in over 3,300 screens. even lower than battlefield:earth. this is a disaster of epic proportions. i should have saved my hollywood sequels blog entry from a few weeks ago until this movie came out, because it is phenomenal in its failure. who would have thought a month ago that the pacifier would outgross xxx by 250%?

so our winner this week is marc.



look at that cocky look on his jerky face. i guess it's fitting since it is his birthday. in fact, i let him win for that very reason. happy birthday marc!

MILLIONS OFF
1. Marc 25.1
2. Chad 29.2
3. Brendan 39.3
4. Aaron 39.4

it was our collective worst weekend since february 25. aaron amazingly almost makes 3rd despite his unruly xxx prediction.

WINS TO DATE
1. Marc 11
2. Chad 9
3. Aaron 8
4. Brendan 7

AVERAGES SO FAR
1. Chad 24.7
2. Marc 24.8
3. Aaron 27.2
4. Brendan 27.5

this was brendan's golden opportunity to pass aaron and he blew it. i can feel marc's breath on the back of my neck and it's kicking.

SPECIFIC PREDICTIONS

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy 21.1
closest- Chad 24.7
dumbest- Brendan 38.9

The Interpreter 13.8
closest- Aaron 13.5
dumbest- Chad 15.5

XXX: State of the Union 12.7
closest- Marc 24.7
dumbest- Aaron 41.6*

*note this is the single worst prediction in the history of the game

A Lot Like Love 5.1
closest- Aaron 4.8
dumbest- Chad 4.0

so there it is. smokey gets an honorary win as well for correctly backing marc from the get go. perhaps he would like to put his money (metaphorical) where is mouth is and enter the box office derby himself. the invitation is open to all. just e-mail me your predicted top 10 by midnight thursday night and you are in. use the top 10 above as a guide and keep in mind the following films are added to the fray

OPENING NEXT WEEK
Kingdom of Heaven 3,300 screens
House of Wax 3,000 screens
Crash 1,700 screens

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