Blockbuster Movie Brackets

With a little help from my friends

Blockbuster Movie Brackets — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 23:02:30 +0000

First, I’d like to apologize for taking so long to update the final post. I guess I wasn’t ready to say goodbye.

In many ways, the final weekend of Blockbuster Movie Brackets played out like most of the final months with The Help continuing its run at the top. The heartwarming film brought in $14.6 million, and its total take is more than $130 million at this point. Not too shabby. Unfortunately, the new releases fell behind in the closing week. The Debt, which opened Aug. 31, was able to earn $11.8 million in its first weekend, while Apollo 18 had to settle for $8.7 million in a shorter three-day start. Shark Night 3D finished fourth with a close $8.4 million. And now, it’s time to crown our winner….

Congratulations to Dawn, whose bet on The Help paid off in the final weeks. She is the third winner of Blockbuster Movie Brackets with an impressive 35113 points! For winning, Dawn will receive a DVD of the summer blockbuster of her choice and, of course, bragging rights for the next year.

Amanda and I hope you’ve had fun with the competition this year. If there’s anything you think we can do to improve the experience, please let us know. Otherwise, enjoy the movies and we’ll see you next year.

Apollo 18, Shark Night and The Debt make up the last weekend

Blockbuster Movie Brackets — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 11:09:54 +0000

Sadly, our journey has come to an end. It’s been 15 weeks of superheroes, comedies, thrillers and sweet films that have touched are heart. In our final week of competition, we are treated with a horror movie set on the moon, a horror movie set on a lake and a suspense thriller about hunting Nazi war criminals. Looks like we are going out with a bang.

With this lineup, I wouldn’t be surprised if The Help takes another weekend. What do you think?

We’ve had a lot of fun with Blockbuster Movie Brackets this year, and we’ll announce the winner next week. If there’s anything we can do to improve the contest, please let us know. Otherwise, enjoy the movies this weekend and check out the fall movie previews from Entertainment Weekly, NBC New York and IFC.

See you at the movies!

The Help continues to sweep the competition

Blockbuster Movie Brackets — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 00:56:58 +0000

With the East Coast under Hurricane Irene’s path most of the weekend, new releases were the last thing on American’s minds. Thanks to a little help from Irene, The Help found itself on top of the box office for the third week of competition. The movie brought in a respectable $14.5 million.

The action-packed Colombiana, originally scheduled to open the first week of September, was moved up a week. The move didn’t help the film win, but it did manage to push it into second place with $10.4 million. Rise of the Planet of the Apes continues to be a force earning third place with a $8.9 million take.

Other new releases included the horror movie Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark with $8.5 million and the comedy Our Idiot Brother with $7.7 million.

In a daring display of movie-bracket awesomeness, Dawn was the only person to pick The Help this week. That gamble secured Dawn the top spot going into the final week of movie brackets. Congratulations!

As we wind things down, we want to hear from you. What did you like about this year? What can we work on for next year? Let us know.

The Help remains on top

Blockbuster Movie Brackets — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 10:10:31 +0000

The Help benefited from a series of remakes and sequels to take the top spot for another weekend in this competition. Moviegoers turned out to give the movie an edge over all of the new releases as it took in $20 million. Rise of the Planet of the Apes continues to be a contender, coming in second with $16.1 million. Spy Kids: All the Time in the World was the only new release to crack the top three, raking in $11.6 million.

The other two releases, Conan the Barbarian and Fright Night, did not fare so well. Conan conquered $10 million in ticket sales while Fright Night was only able to suck $7.7 million out of moviegoers.

Believe it or not, just two participants took a chance with The Help this weekend. One of them is Dawn, who has secured her lead. Congratulations!

We still have two weeks of competition, and the race is close. Stay tuned to see who wins.

Remake, remake, SEQUEL!!! You’re it.

Blockbuster Movie Brackets — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 16:29:13 +0000

Ever feel like history is repeating itself? As much as I love today’s back-t0-school ads (especially Target’s “denim” ad), I look at the fashion and think to myself, “Are we in the 80s again?” Apparently, we are because this weekend you can see two 80s remakes, Conan the Barbarian and Fright Night.

Both of the films are very similar to the originals but with some modern updates. It was difficult to find reviews of either movie, but one review of Conan read, “here’s a movie that’s simultaneously lavishly violent and numbing, visually ornate and undistinguished, epic and shallow, relentlessly noisy and tone-deaf, workmanlike and unfilling.” Sounds awesome to me!

The other wide-release this week is a new sequel to Spy Kids, which is subtitled “All the Time in the World.” Jessica Alba and Joel McHale are in the lead of this film about a family of spies and kids with incredible powers. The movie is shot in 4D with Aroma-Scope, although I’m not sure how many theaters will offer all four dimensions. If you can find a theater that carries it, I would recommend going for the experience alone.

That’s the review for this week. As we begin to wind down another year, we want to hear from you. Is there anything we can do to make your experience better next year? Do you want more reviews, movie information, or anything else? Let us know.

It’s been a lot of fun. We’ll see you at the movies!

Rise wins the weekend, but Help gets the points

Blockbuster Movie Brackets — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 17:01:01 +0000

Rise of the Planet of the Apes continued its dominance of the box office this weekend, bringing in $27.8 million dollars over the three-day span. That was enough to beat The Help during the same three-day span. Fortunately, producers of The Help decided to release their film last Wednesday. In this competition, the extra two days count toward the film’s opening weekend total. That means The Help’s total five-day take of $35.9 million shoots it past the apes and earns several people some points.

Final Destination 5 finished out the top three with $18 million. It looks like the latest installment in the Final Destination franchise was not enough to secure another win. The other opening movies, 30 Minutes or Less and Glee: The 3D Concert Movie, failed to break the top three earning $13.3 million and $6 million respectively.

Dawn has secured the lead again this week, and Ozzy joins Philip, Sean and Thomas in the second place spot. We’ve still got three weeks of brackets left, and it looks like this one will be down to the wire.

Will Glee put a kink in this week’s brackets

Blockbuster Movie Brackets — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 10:31:29 +0000

Well, it’s finally happened. When we plan for Blockbuster Movie Brackets in May, we assume the studio information is accurate and nothing will change in the next four months. Then, something comes along like Glee The 3D Concert Movie and puts a kink in all the planning. The movie, based on the popular television show will hit theaters this weekend and could possibly take the top spot.

That’s bad news for the producers of 30 Minutes or Less, Final Destination 5 and The Help who had hoped to have a successful showing this weekend as well. It seems that the studios are not too worried about Glee (they didn’t change their release dates), and really the new releases don’t compete with Glee’s demographic. Maybe all this worrying is for nothing.

Regardless, there is something for everyone this weekend. Those who like action comedies should enjoy 30 Minutes or Less from the creators of Zombieland. The movie stars Parks and Recreation’s Aziz Ansari and The Social Network’s Jesse Eisenberg has two friends who are forced to commit a bank robbery against their will. Cheesy-horror-movie lovers will enjoy the most recent addition to the Final Destination franchise. In the movie, teenagers are still trying their best to escape Death and Death is still trying its best to kill the kids. Finally, for the more mature crowd, comes the period drama The Help about a young writer who writes a book from the perspective of the help in the 1960s South.

I think this week is a toss-up between Final Destination 5 and The Help. For some reason, horror movies do well in August and the previous film won its weekend. The Help has the advantage of being based on a successful novel and opening a few days before the other films. Still, I could be completely wrong and the Glee kids could take the whole thing.

What are your thoughts? Who’s going to win this weekend at the box office? Which movie are you excited about seeing?

Rise of a blockbuster movie

Blockbuster Movie Brackets — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 10:54:26 +0000

Rise of the Planet of the Apes was the surprise hit at the box office this weekend. The latest installment in the Apes series took in $54.8 million in its opening and possibly rejuvenated the 40 year-old franchise. Even Amanda, who has (gasp!) never seen the original wants to see this movie. No wonder it did so well.

The Smurfs held on for another week in the second spot with $20.7 million. The animated movie featuring our favorite blue crew and former child star continues to appeal to families looking for their last break before school. Finally, last week’s winner Cowboys & Aliens dropped to third place with $15.7 million.

The other new release The Change-Up finished fourth and brought in a respectable $13.5 million for a comedy. This Freaky Friday reinvention may not have been enough to place in the top three, but it should live on once it’s released to video.

This weekend’s results shook up the standings. Philip, Sean and Thomas rejoin Dawn at the top spot of the leader board. There are still four weeks left in the movie brackets, and anyone could win. This is going to be an exciting race.

It’s all monkey business

Blockbuster Movie Brackets — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 11:56:03 +0000

This weekend, the box office goes bananas. The latest installment in the Planet of the Apes franchise hits theaters with Rise of the Planet of the Apes. James Franco is at the helm of this prequel set in modern-day San Francisco. As expected by the title, the movie tells how the Planet of the Apes came to be through genetically engineering. I love the original Planet of the Apes movie, partly because it had impressive makeup for its day and also because the final scene is so gripping. (If you haven’t seen it, you can view it here) It’s possible that the new release will be just as fun to watch.

The other new release is The Change-Up. It’s being billed as a Freaky Friday for frat guys. Jason Bateman and Ryan Reynolds star in the comedy from the director of Wedding Crashers and the writer of The Hangover. There’s a lot to like about this film, but comedies don’t always do well in the movie brackets. If it’s any good, it will end up having a long shelf life and will be played on TBS or Comedy Central for years to come.

Who do you think will take the box office? Will it be a new release, or will Cowboys and Aliens enjoy a two-week reign?

Cowboys & Aliens squish blue crew

Blockbuster Movie Brackets — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 16:43:26 +0000

Comic books and graphic novels continue to win at the box office, and this week was no exception. It wasn’t a pretty win, but Cowboys & Aliens was able to get things done. The film took $36.4 million to narrowly beat out The Smurfs, which came in at $35.6 million.

Captain America, last week’s winner, came in third place at $25.6 million. The other major studio release Crazy, Stupid, Love placed fifth in its opening weekend with $19.1 million.

After 10 weeks of competition, Dawn remains perfect with the Cowboys & Aliens win. Congratulations! But, watch out because Philip, Sean and Thomas are close on your heels. We’ll see how the rest of the contest goes as we enter the final stretch.

So,did you see Cowboys and Aliens? How about The Smurfs? What are your thoughts?