Score One For Wendy

CERTAINLY WE COULD ALL SEE THAT COMING. Me eating crow after being so confident that I would be right and my wife would be wrong about Sex & the City, right? How wrong was I? Let's look at the numbers:

Sex & the City
My prediction: $33 million (total take: $80 million)
Actual opening weekend: $57 million
Accuracy: 57.8%
The Strangers
My prediction: $11 million (total take: $35 million)
Actual opening weekend: $20.9 million
Accuracy: 52.6%

Wow. That's a rough ride leading into this upcoming weekend, which has both me and the wife flummoxed.

Kung Fu Panda
Non-Pixar animated films are a crap shoot. Sometimes there's just no telling what people might be interested in. That surfing penguin film looked like it might be cute and funny, but people just didn't care that much about it. So what will people think about this panda? I'm guessing there's a need for a good family film in the theaters right now. Something light and fun and funny. So, I'm guessing Kung Fu Panda opens strong and wins the weekend.

Opening weekend: $52 million
Total take: $135 million

You Don't Mess With The Zohan
Here's the biggest puzzler. Do people really want to see this film? Are people excited to see this actor doing this crazy character? (By the way, that is the same question I'll be asking in two weeks about the new Mike Meyers film.) Adam Sandler comedies tend to fare well at the box office. But one has to wonder whether his ability to draw an audience might be waning. That said, every broad comedy he's made in the last six years has enjoyed an opening weekend in the mid-30s and ended up grossing over $100 million. So...with very little confidence...I'll say this...

Opening weekend: $37 million
Total take: $124 million