Box Office Doodle

LAST WEEK, I TOTALLY FLINCHED. I chickened out. From the first ads for The Love Guru, I thought "who will see this movie?" But when it came time to make my prediction, I hedged. I thought maybe...maybe it might do okay. But it did not. Wow, did it ever tank.

Here's the scoop from last week.
The Love Guru
My prediction: $27 million
Actual opening weekend: $13.9 million
Accuracy: 51.4%

Get Smart
My prediction: $35 million
Actual opening weekend: $38.6 million
Accuracy: 90%

This week, it's all about the W's: WALL-E, Wanted and The Wife. Let's start with the gimme.

WALL-E
It's Pixar. It's rated G. It looks awesome and adorable and cute and clever and a tiny bit heartbreaking. Of course, it will take the top spot at the box office. The only question is by how much. I think the G rating will guarantee an easy top spot for WALL-E. Not only can everyone get in to see it, but it appears to appeal to every segment of the marketplace: it's animated (for the kids), it's a romantic comedy (for the ladies), it's science fiction (for the boys), it's rated G (for the little kids), but it's from Pixar (comedy for adults too!).

Opening weekend: $77 million
Total take: $290 million

Wanted
Here's the latest source of disagreement between me and my lady. From the first hints of this movie, I thought it looked stupid. You can curve bullets? Really? Oh please. Also, have you seen the posters? What art school drop out made those posters. Angelina's head is 19 times larger than her body. And her gun is out of bullets but she still has the hammer pulled back. Now, that just makes no sense at all. Meanwhile, the guy from Atonement has two guns pointed in that totally cool (for the '90s) criss-cross arm style. Okay. That said, the reviews have been shockingly positive for this movie. Which has made my wife get all on her crazy movie predicting pedestal (not at all different from mine...hers is pink, mine is blue, naturally) and make the prediction that Wanted will out-gross Hancock. Which is just crazy talk. Hancock is a Will Smith 4th of July joint...about which I will not talk until next week. Now, Wanted may end up being a non-sucky movie (although I still have my doubts), but it won't beat Hancock and it surely won't beat WALL-E. Not with an R rating. Nope. I just don't believe it.

Opening weekend: $39 million
Total take: $119 million