Week 9 Recap: Magical

You knew it was going to be an interesting weekend when Friday set new box office records.  For the first time in history, four different movies brought in over $10 million in revenue on a Friday.  "Ted" edged out "Magic Mike" at $20 mil, while "Brave" barely beat Tyler Perry's newest release at just over $10 mil.  At first blush, it appeared that a magic teddy bear flick would duel it out with a film about male strippers.  But as it turned out, Magic Mike's attendance weakened significantly as the weekend drew to a close, while Ted pulled in big crowds throughout.  At the end, Ted stood at $54 mil and Magic Mike at $39.  Depending on how the July 4th week affects the box office, Magic Mike should end up making Ryan at least $75 mil, while Ted will bring Darius over $100 mil in profit.  Tyler Perry's cinema "masterpiece" should make Jeremy an easy $30 mil.  The other wide release of the week, "People Like Us", bombed hard at only $5, which means AJ will lose a significant portion of the $57 mil he spent on it.

Looking further back, most of the older releases stayed on track, but Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Rock of Ages, and That's My Boy all fell hard, endangering whatever small hopes their respective owners had of making back their money.

Looking forward to this coming weekend, the box office appears to have the usual July 4th one-trick pony in The Amazing Spiderman.  Currently, it's forecasting at about $250 mil, which would just make back Ryan's investment and little more.  For him to stand a chance at finishing first, he needs it to make more in the $350 range.  Unfortunately, with Dark Knight Rises coming out in three weeks, Spiderman isn't likely to do much after the first two weeks.  The other two wide releases of the weekend, "Katy Perry" and "Savages", are both owned by Darius (purchased for a total of $22 mil) and are projecting to make a combined total of nearly $100 mil.  If that holds true, Darius will further catapult into first place contention.

Current Standings (Projected Total):
1. Matt - $698 ($793)
2. John - $394 ($490)
3. Darius - $381 ($664)
4. Jeremy - $325 ($542)
5. Ryan - $254 ($609)
6. Pat - $130 ($530)
7. AJ - $127 ($456)