Each week Jacob recaps the weekend box office and the winners and losers in the Midnight Warrior Fantasy Movie League.
WEEK 11 BOX OFFICE BREAKDOWN
You may have noticed I skipped the Week 10 roundup last week. I was on a 9 day trip to the Great Smokey Mountain National Park. As we all know, the hardest part about vacations is finding a way to get your Fantasy Movie League lineup set correctly. One of the great things about this game is that it happens every single Friday of the year, but that is also what makes having a great season so hard. The last time I was out of town, I trusted It Comes At Night whose terrible performance put me impossibly far behind in the first week of this season. This time I managed to do a little better.
I may not have known that Annabelle: Creation was the third film in a series, or even that this series existed, but I knew it was going to be the anchor and BP winner this week. I even knew The Glass Castle was the next filler. But, using the cell phone, I never realized that I had enough money to play War far the Planet of the Apes, so I finished with three screens of Wonder Woman. If I only put my number in FMLNerd’s lineup calculator, I would have had my third Perfect Cineplex of the season.
Remember, plan your vacations (and all of your Friday mornings) around finding that perfect lineup. Keep your priorities in order, folks.
In the Midnight Warrior league, chaseandrewbeasley’s Cineplex found his first Perfect Cineplex and win of the season by being just slightly smarter than your average weekly FML recap author and fitting in War for the Planet of the Apes. Congratulations, and please email us with your full name so we can thank you with more than just your cineplex name.
As always, School of Rock and I Smell Cineplex and Candy sit in the top two spots of our league. We only have two weeks left, and these two cineplexes are within $4 million of each other. The next best is yours truly, sitting over $60 million out of first place. It will be very interesting to see what strategy these two masters of FML employ in these last weeks, and what kind of crazy cineplexes I’m going to throw together to gain ground. Hint: I’m feeling lucky.
WEEK 12 PREDICTIONS
There are three hot new releases this week, so let’s not waste any time! Here’s the rundown:
- The Hitman’s Bodyguard ($254) – This certified rotten bust sees two Marvel Stars is poised to be the next big Hollywood flop. It probably has the better ad campaign of this week’s new releases (as in you’ve probably at least seen one ad for this one), but it’s hard to overcome such bad reviews when movie prices are so expensive. Do yourself a favor and just rent The Nice Guys and watch it twice. Oh, and it goes without saying, you should not play this one; 3,300 screens isn’t nearly enough for the risk.
- Logan Lucky ($184) – Now we’re cooking with fire. Soderberg returns to his ol’ stompin’ grounds with a heist film, and this one looks like a Coen brothers’ film if you squint hard enough. In over 3,000 theaters, and packing a strong 92% certified fresh Tomatometer score, solid stars, and a great trailer, I don’t see how you don’t max out this one. Hop in this pony and ride!
- Wind River ($43) – This certified fresh bust sees two Marvel Stars is poised to be the next big Hollywood flop… wait, that’s not right. From the writer of Hell or High Water, this middle-budget fare could see some packed cineplexes. In 694 theaters, I expect this to make a run for Best Performer. If you have some faith in Scarlet Witch and Hawkeye, you could make a case for that being your anchor. It’s going to be really close.
So where does that leave us? It’s pretty clear I’m all about Logan Lucky. Pair it with 4 Spiderman: Homecoming, a well-reviewed superhero film that’s still about 2,300 theaters. Maybe you think the back-to-school crowd will be finishing off their week with the high school hero they missed this summer. Or, maybe the numbers just pair well with Logan Lucky.
Are you not feeling Lucky this week? Tell me why not on Twitter @jakerg23.