The first season of the inaugural Getafilm Box Office Mogul League came to a dramatic close last week. Hovering near the top of the standings throughout the season, Kathie Smith's "Gamera Lives" studio rode the Batmobile to an incredible first place finish. Congrats to Kathie, who will be receiving free movie passes from a little stash that I have, even though I'm sure she doesn't even need them.I know, I know, I'm working on a better prize for next season.
Here are the final standings and slates, and some observations:
1. Kathie - Gamera Lives
Total Box Office: $1245.89M
Slate:
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
The Strangers
Sex and the City
You Don't Mess With the Zohan
The Happening
Get Smart
Wanted
The Dark Knight
2. Tom - Per Capita Pictures
Total Box Office: $1214.08M
Slate:
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
The Strangers
Sex and the City
The Incredible Hulk
The Happening
Get Smart
Mamma Mia!
The Dark Knight
3. Matt (mnraul) - Norbit
Total Box Office: $1158.33M
Slate:
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
What Happens in Vegas
You Don't Mess With the Zohan
Wall-E
The Happening
Mamma Mia!
The Dark Knight
Step Brothers
4. Craig - LiC Studios
Total Box Office: $1143.20M
Slate:
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Sex and the City
Wall-E
Hellboy II: The Golden Army
Mamma Mia!
The Dark Knight
The X-Files: I Want to Believe
Step Brothers
5. Matt - The Spoon
Total Box Office: $1121.79M
Slate:
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Kit Kittredge: An American Girl
Get Smart
Wall-E
Hellboy II: The Golden Army
Mamma Mia!
The Dark Knight
Step Brothers
6. Josh - Oooo..Good Luck With That
Total Box Office: $1121.47M
Slate:
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Wall-E
Hancock
Hellboy II: The Golden Army
The Dark Knight
Space Chimps
The X-Files: I Want to Believe
7. Beaver - BeavWorks SKG
Total Box Office: $1089.05M
Slate:
What Happens in Vegas
You Don't Mess With the Zohan
The Incredible Hulk
The Love Guru
Wall-E
Hancock
The Dark Knight
Step Brothers
8. Fletch - Blog Cabins
Total Box Office: $1033.02M
Slate:
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Postal
Sex and the City
The Strangers
The Happening
The Incredible Hulk
Get Smart
Wall-E
9. Daniel (me, obviously) - Straight to Video
Total Box Office: $996.83M
Slate:
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
The Foot Fist Way
Sex and the City
You Don't Mess With the Zohan
Wall-E
Hancock
The Wackness
Step Brothers
10. Nicole - AveLallemax
Total Box Office: $908.69M
Slate:
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Sex and the City
You Don't Mess With the Zohan
Baghead
The Wackness
The Dark Knight
Step Brothers
American Teen
11. k - Beantown Studio
Total Box Office: $788.07M
Slate:
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Mongol
Get Smart
The Dark Knight
Step Brothers
Brideshead Revisited
Religulous
Observations:
- Indies were slate killers. Even though Nicole and k wisely drafted both big guns (Indy & TDK), their courageous picks of independent films resulted in disaster (I'll use that as my excuse, too, instead of the fact that I idiotically didn't draft TDK). At the end of the day, I think having indies in this game is inappropriate, especially because of limited releases. Nobody will pick any next time - but, I think a solution might be a rule that you can only pick four movies that are projected at $100M+. That way everyone has indies/smaller-budget films and the stakes are a little higher.
- Apparently, nobody switched picks mid-season. If you had the money left in your account, I believe you could have mixed and matched movies throughout the season, so long as you were only dealing with movies that hadn't opened yet. Maybe a strategy for next time.
- The end date kind of jacked things up. For example, even though Step Brothers isn't going to break box-office records, it's still going to make a little more than the $30M it's taken in so far. Same with The Dark Knight, for that matter. That being said, what can you do? The season would never end if you waited for movies to finish their theater runs. Just goes to show how important opening weekend is. Also, Kathie picked the right early movies, even though she had TDK in her back pocket.
Surprise Studs:
What Happens in Vegas
Kung Fu Panda (which NOBODY picked)
Wanted
Surprise Duds:
The Happening
Kit Kittredge: An American Girl
The Foot Fist Way
Step Brothers
That's it. Thanks for playing, everybody! Like all fantasy leagues, some people are bound to check out early on and others will pay attention the whole time. It's all good. I think it was a fun game for the most part, and I plan to set up a second season later this year, maybe Oct-Dec. There will be plenty of advance notice this time, and hopefully more players.
I know it's not for everybody, but as much as you might think box-office numbers are unimportant, the reality is that they're often the reason we get so many movies like The Happening. The lesson: if you're going to go these bad movies, at least buy a ticket for something else.
It's over??? Damnit. I still had some gas left in the tank. No way I was going to catch Kathie, though.
ReplyDeleteGood game ever'body.
It is funny how obvious everything was in retrospect. But when this started, who knew Batman would be so Batcrazy? Or that The Happening would be the shite it was?
ReplyDeleteThanks for organizing the whole thing! Winning is fun! An dwho says I don't need free movie passes?!?
DAMMIT!! I should've played. :D
ReplyDeleteI was right about A LOT of movies.
If there was an award for best picks not counting The Dark Knight, I would have been all over that shit. But...no. I ended up getting my ass kicked. Congrats to Kathie. This was indeed fun and I'm ready for the next season.
ReplyDeleteA couple more weeks and you might have had it, Craig, but neither Step Brothers or X-Files opened above TDK on its second weekend, so that didn't help.
ReplyDeleteThe movies passes are yours, Kathie! Figured you might be on the A-list around here, that's all, hehe. Good point about Batman exceeding ALL expectations, too.
Hope you get in for next season, DC Girl. It should be a fun one if timed around Oscar fare.
You and me both, Fletch. I sunk like a rock after TDK opened. Postal was a real liability for you, too...
Wait, was this like fantasy football but with box office performances? That's awesome! I missed it!
ReplyDeleteDamn.
Next time, Scott. NEXT TIME...
ReplyDeleteYes there was no way I would've caught up, though I was having fun riding the bat wave.
ReplyDeleteI may have frontloaded my picks a little more if I'd been paying attention to the end date.
Serves me right.
Not necessarily - you can see where frontloading got Fletch. And me, for that matter.
ReplyDeleteI think we all underestimated the possibility that after TDK came out, NOTHING would touch it for weeks.
Oh wow, I completely forgot about this, haha. Go me.
ReplyDeleteCongrats, Kathie!
Hehe, yeah I kind of figured you weren't checking in everyday, k! No big deal. I only ended up two ahead of you, and I was paying attention...
ReplyDeleteTrue Daniel, but I like to think if I'd tossed x-files, and step brothers, I still would've included TDK. WALL-E held me back though. It did well, but not for the price I paid.
ReplyDeleteSo, when do we play again?
I don't know. It depends on what people think of the rules? Like what are thoughts on limiting the number of projected blockbusters you can pick? Obviously the fall/winter openings are going to be lower than the summer ones, but if we require some indies/limited releases, it could make it really interesting.
ReplyDeleteThe game is self-limiting to three months. I was thinking Oct. 1 - Dec. 31st, or something around that period. Nov and Dec are definitely the meaty months, but how far do we want to get into January? Besides, by that time it's all Oscar all the time.
I think 10/3 - 1/4 sounds about right (I know that's what you were thinking, but I went and looked up the dates of the weekends). I can wait a couple months. I say no limits - let the blockbusters take all. After all, the real place to win it is in the picking of hits like The Strangers and Wanted (that's where Kathie got the edge over her main rivals).
ReplyDeleteThanks for doing that research. No Limit Pick 'Em, eh? That's risky - I won't be able to help myself from picking an indie sleeper.
ReplyDeleteI guess I'll keep an eye on the budget projections in the meantime, maybe put it to a vote in a poll. No rules would definitely be easier, but...well there's something about going all in on a random movie like Postal.