Has the Hollywood box office become too predictable? A quick glance at last weekend’s results shows that, well, yeah, maybe it is. After all, what was set up as a big throwdown between Jack Black’s Kung Fu Panda and Adam Sandler’s You Don’t Mess With the Zohan wound up being anything but — on the strength of its family appeal and strong reviews, Panda cruised to the weekend win, leaving Zohan a distant (but still very respectable) No. 2. It was a turn of events that had been seen a mile away by both EW.com’s own box office analyst, and 75 percent of participants in our Summer Box Office Challenge; all told, a dozen players got perfect scores in this week’s game, and the winner-by-tiebreaker was one "Jdenser."
This upcoming frame may not be so easy to call, however. Another movie version of the Incredible Hulk saga is going up against M. Night Shyamalan’s The Happening, and neither film seems to have an edge — in fact, both look like iffy propositions. So which one will win? Register your pick for No. 1 and all the rest of the weekend’s top 10 films in the Challenge. A DVD prize awaits the winner… just as a surprise could await box office pundits this weekend.
Comments (1-6) of 6 Add your comment
Iffy? One is a R-rated movie targeted towards adults while the other is a much more light-hearted PG-13 comic book movie aimed at a larger audience.
Top 5:
Hulk
Kung Fu Panda
Happening
Zohan
Indy
In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if Happening came in 4th and Zohan was #3. The only question is how much will Hulk make? You have Iron Man do pretty well, but that was a new franchise, and this is a re-boot of poorly received one.
I predict crash and burn for Hulkie.
HULK WILL SMASH!!! This thing is getting surprisingly good reviews and word of mouth has had a huge up tick. A friend of mine saw a press screening and said it was on par with Iron Man and it will be the big surprise of the summer. On the other hand, The Happening has terrible buzz and word of mouth and will be another loser for MNS. Hulk will do over 60 million this weekend easily, and Happening will be lucky to hit 25 mill with a 4th place finish as KFP will be #2 and Zohan at #3.
I’d rather see The Happening but I don’t think it’s gotten as much promotion as The Hulk movie. But then again, the first Hulk movie didn’t do too well, so that could be a problem. I’m going to say they’ll be close but Hulk will probably get it.
The Happening has a 25% on Rotten Tomatoes… my guess is it doesn’t even break 3rd this weekend. Hulk #1, Panda #2, Zohan #3, then MNight.
Ugh, Hulk. Yeah, it’s a “superhero” movie, but it’s about an UGLY superhero. The Hulk is not attractive. You can have hot dudes playing Superman, Batman, all the X-men, etc., but the Hulk is pretty much a monster, no matter who’s playing Dr. Banner. So, fewer chicks will want to see it. There you go. It’ll make $, but it won’t be some big phenomenon or anything. Unfortunately, I think “e” below, hit the nail on the head.