Showing 80-98 of 98 results tagged “Box Office”

Two thoughts on the Box Office Power Rankings:

• I believe I’ve been miscalculating and/or misrepresenting one element of the rankings. I’ve been calling the second box-office component per-screen average, when I now think that I’ve been using the number of theaters instead of screens. It probably wouldn’t make that much of a difference; movies on multiple screens per theater would be the beneficiaries, but smaller films have still done pretty well in this measure. It will be called per-theater average from this point forward.
• I’m toying with the idea of trying to use the Box Office Power Rankings as a Best Picture Oscar predictor. The hypothesis would be that longevity, peak position, and peak score in the rankings might name the winner once the nominees are known. Alternatively, some aggregate score could be devised.

And in this week’s rankings, 3:10 to Yuma staved off The Brave One to retain its crown, assisted in large part by movie critics giving the Jodie Foster vehicle mediocre reviews.

Continue reading for last week’s full rankings and the methodology.

It must be the fall movie season, because last weekend’s box-office champ brought in all of $14 million. What we’ll discover in the coming months is how the youthful Box Office Power Rankings (started in May) react to an autumn environment, with its decidedly different dynamic. My guess is that absent summer blockbusters, critical reception will carry more weight.

That hypothesis didn’t get tested this past weekend, because James Mangold’s 3:10 to Yuma did well with audiences and critics alike, topping our rankings and knocking Superbad from the number-one spot.

Continue reading for last week’s full rankings and the methodology.

I’ll be brief this week, as we have some renovations happening behind the scenes here at Culture Snob.

Superbad, after spending the past two weeks in our rankings behind The Bourne Ultimatum, finally took the top spot over the Labor Day weekend ... by finishing second in all four of the criteria. Box-office champ Halloween took third place in the Box Office Power Rankings.

Continue reading for last week’s full rankings and the methodology.

We’ll use this week’s Box Office Power Rankings — topped, for the fourth consecutive week, by The Bourne Identity — to illustrate how the formula works. To assist us: Mr. Bean, pictured to the right.

Now Mr. Bean’s Holiday is no box-office smash in the United States (although it has made $200 million worldwide). In its opening weekend here, it landed in fourth place with a shade less than $10 million.

And Mr. Bean’s Holiday is no hit with critics, either. On Rotten Tomatoes, only 51 percent of reviewers dubbed it “fresh,” while Metacritic’s composite score was a mediocre 56. (Mr. Bean is undoubtedly an acquired taste.)

So how does Mr. Bean’s Holiday land third in Culture Snob’s rankings? The movie was shown on only 1,714 screens last weekend, giving it a per-screen average of $5,770 — the second-highest in the box-office top ten. In our system, that performance is worth nine points, which is one more point than The Invasion got across all four criteria in this week’s rankings.

In fact, had the Rowan Atkinson vehicle grossed $10.5 million in its first weekend, it would have topped even Superbad in per-screen average.

Continue reading for last week’s full rankings and the methodology.

Jason Bourne is so mean. He’s spent two weeks atop our Box Office Power Rankings, and now he won’t give up his place for those nice boys from Superbad.

The comedy from the Judd Apatow factory illustrates that even when you dominate the box office as Superbad did this past weekend, good reviews might not be good enough when it comes to Culture Snob’s system. Because it had lower Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic scores than three movies — The Bourne Identity, Hairspray, and The Simpsons Movie — Superbad had to settle for second place in our rankings.

Continue reading for last week’s full rankings and the methodology.

In the three months since we started the Box Office Power Rankings, we’ve had two perfect scores.

Now we have three, but not in a good way. Unlike Ratatouille and The Bourne Ultimatum — both of which scored first in the rankings’ four criteria — Daddy Day Camp scored last in all four. That means that it was popular enough to place tenth in overall box office but among the top ten was the worst in per-screen average and in two measures of critical opinion.

Continue reading for last week’s full rankings and the methodology.

The billions of you who neglected to bet against me when I claimed that The Simpsons Movie would spend a second week atop the Box Office Power Rankings look pretty foolish today.

See what I did there? I was wrong wrong wrong in my prediction, and I made you the idiot.

Anyway, The Bourne Ultimatum nailed the second perfect score in the brief history of our ratings, winning with audiences and critics alike, and topping all four of our criteria.

I’m going on vacation, but I’ll leave you with the bold prediction that Bourne will spend a second week in first place. Given that the primary new-release competition includes Daddy Day Camp and Rush Hour 3, I would advise against proposing any wagers, although Stardust might surprise.

Continue reading for last week’s full rankings and the methodology.

I’m a big enough person to admit that I was wrong, particularly when I was wrong in such a public fashion. So: I was wrong. My prediction that The Simpsons Movie would tank was woefully off the mark, and two bottles of wine have been delivered to Mike, per our bet. I shan’t even mention the fact that Mike bought 5,632,229 tickets to The Simpsons Movie last weekend.

Matt Groening’s yellow folk also topped this week’s Box Office Power Rankings with positive reviews and those inflated revenues.

But can Homer and company successfully defend their coveted Box Office Power Rankings title this weekend against a pissed-off Jason Bourne? What the hell: Yes.

Anybody want to make a friendly wager?

Continue reading for last week’s full rankings and the methodology.

So Hairspray knocked the rat off its pedestal after three weeks at the top, ranking second or third in all four components of the Box Office Power Rankings to sneak past Pixar’s latest offering.

But I’m more interested in The Simpsons Movie. I have a bet with Mike Schulz, our frequent collaborator on Drunken Commentary Tracks. Basically, I think the movie will Grindhouse bomb, and he thinks it will rule the box office with a force not seen since ... well, at least a couple weeks ago.

Our bet: Two bottles of wine to me if The Simpsons Movie grosses less than $20 million in the U.S. its opening weekend. One bottle of wine to me between $20 million and $40 million. One bottle of wine to him $40 million to $60 million. And two bottles of wine to Mike if it rakes in more than $60 million.

Continue reading for last week’s full rankings and the methodology.

There are no surprises in the rankings for this past weekend, save one absence: Captivity. Opening on 1,061 screens (one quarter as many as Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix), Roland Joffe’s thriller grossed less than $1.5 million — good for 12th place and therefore ineligible for this week’s Box Office Power Rankings.

With no serious new-release competition, Harry Potter’s box office and generally positive reviews propelled it to second place in the rankings. Ratatouille, buoyed by stellar notices and continued strength at the box office, took the top spot for the third week in a row.

And with no more anticipated blockbusters on the summer release calendar, Pixar’s latest is threatening to stay atop the rankings for several more weeks.

Continue reading for the full rankings and the methodology.

The rats still rule in Culture Snob’s Box Office Power Rankings, with the critical acclaim for Pixar’s and Disney’s Ratatouille easily overcoming the box-office power of (and surprisingly un-bad reviews for) Transformers. Michael Bay’s robot movie landed in third place, also behind Live Free or Die Hard.

The week’s other major release, the Robin Williams vehicle License to Wed, barely managed to beat a trio of moldy oldies with its abysmal notices.

Continue reading for the full rankings and the methodology.

We have our first perfect score in Culture Snob’s Box Office Power Rankings. Pixar’s and Disney’s Ratatouille (directed and co-written by Brad Bird) was certainly expected to top the rankings, but this is a bit of a surprise.

Why? Because to achieve the maximum score of 40, a movie needs to top the box office (in this case, over Live Free Or Die Hard); perform better per-screen than both its “big” competitors (Live Free Or Die Hard again) and limited-release prestige pictures (Sicko); and score better with critics than everything else in the box-office top ten (particularly Sicko and Knocked Up).

That’s a tall order, but the computer-animated rats were up to the task.

Continue reading for the full rankings and the methodology.

My predictive powers have again proved to be less than stellar. (Anxiety over imminent surgery is my excuse.)

Last week, I predicted that a steady Ocean’s Thirteen would displace Knocked Up at the top of Culture Snob’s Box Office Power Rankings.

Not only did that not happen, but 1408 — an adaptation of a Stephen King story — came out of nowhere to tie Knocked Up for the top spot in this week’s rankings. It placed second to Evan Almighty in box office and per-screen average and was shockingly well-received by critics.

I won’t get burned again. This weekend, I’m taking the easy money and saying that Pixar’s Ratatouille will top our rankings, barring stellar notices for Live Free or Die Hard. See how I hedged?

Continue reading for the full rankings and the methodology.

Knocked Up once again triumphed in Culture Snob’s Box Office Power Rankings, with no serious threat posed by Fantastic Four (fourth, of course!) or Nancy Drew (sixth).

Now comes Evan Almighty, which — given the early reviews — won’t contend for the top spot, either. But that doesn’t mean Knocked Up will win its fourth-consecutive title next week. I’m guessing Ocean’s Thirteen will overtake it.

Continue reading for the full rankings and the methodology.

As I predicted, Knocked Up retained its Power Rankings crown this past weekend. Although Ocean’s Thirteen ruled the box office and got decent reviews, it was no match for the stellar notices and the strong overall and per-screen performances that buoyed Judd Apatow’s comedy. And with the Fantastic Four sequel the biggest thing opening this weekend, another Knocked Up victory is all but inevitable.

Continue reading for the full rankings and the methodology.

It was fairly obvious once the reviews started coming in that Knocked Up would top this week’s edition of Culture Snob’s Box Office Power Rankings. What was surprising was that it came within $14 million of a first-ever perfect score.

Judd Apatow’s comedy (the follow-up to The 40-Year-Old Virgin) topped our rankings in per-screen average, Rotten Tomatoes score, and Metacritic score, but it came in second (with $30.7 million) to Pirates of the Caribbean ($44.2 million) in overall box-office receipts.

I predict that Knocked Up will remain atop our power rankings for several more weeks on the strength of its reviews and box-office staying power.

Continue reading for the full rankings and the methodology.

As expected, the third Pirates of the Caribbean movie dominated the Memorial Day box office, but $142 million was no match for the feisty limited-release Waitress in Culture Snob’s Box Office Power Rankings. Adrienne Shelly’s film used strong reviews and a blockbuster-worthy per-screen average to land atop this week’s ratings, even though it ranked fifth in overall box office.

Pirates of the Caribbean tied 28 Weeks Later for second place, with middling reviews sinking Jack Sparrow and company. To overtake Waitress, Pirates needed to score 67 at Rotten Tomatoes (instead of 47) and 63 at Metacritic (instead of 50).

Spider-Man 3 and Shrek the Third rounded out the top five.

Continue reading for the full rankings and the methodology.

Most of us know that box-office gross is a largely meaningless number, and many people think that critics are worthless. In an effort to try to better measure a movie’s overall performance, Culture Snob here offers the first of its weekly Box Office Power Rankings.

The rankings cover the 10 top-grossing movies in the United States for the previous weekend. We assign equal weight to box office and critical opinion, with each having two components. The measures are: box-office gross, per-screen average, Rotten Tomatoes score, and Metacritic score.