Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Summer Movie League


So the "Summer Movie League", I think that's what we're calling it.

Or maybe "Summer Blockbuster Fantasy Draft"

Or "MOTION PICTURE SHOWDOWN <subtitle> Screw the Mega Millions"

Or "President by Day: Hunter by Night"... wait no, that's the tag line for the movie "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter"

The point is (a) this is our first time doing such a thing and (b) it will be awesome
... so for get that (c) the name is still a bit iffy


First: all credit must go to my cousin Ryan for developing and creating this. If I were a more creative person I would name it after him. But, that's not true. I'm plenty creative. I'm just superstitious, and I don't want him to win.

The rules:
- There are 5 of us playing (too many and it won't work)
- We can draft from any movie that will be released in May, June, July, and August
- We have a snake draft (meaning you pick first to last then last to first) this sunday to determine our teams
- We pick until we have 6 movies per person
- We take the amount of money the movie grosses in its first two weeks of domestic release, and it becomes part of your team's total dollar amount
- The team with the most money in the end wins!
**note if a movie release date is pushed back out of the summer blockbuster time frame - too bad/so sad you get nothing

So that's how we're doing this. In future years, we hope to become more sophisticated by adjusting the domestic gross against the amount it cost to make the movie/pay the actors. But for now we just want to try it out - have a little fun. Maybe for our first time around we'll call the game "The Winner Who Picked Dark Knight, and all the other fools" and then we'll make things better for our winter movie draft pick.

Here is the rotten tomatoes website of upcoming movies we can chose from.


Its wednesday - due diligence time. I already have my excel sheet, I've already watched my trailers, but I'm still adjusting. I would love input! Any dark horses you would advise me on? Would you do this draft yourself? (I encourage it! Let me know if you do) Would you change any of our rules?

After Sunday I'll reveal my secret methodology for choosing and I'll tell you my team so you can all run out and watch those movies within the first two weeks of their release (because I know you're dying to see Piranha 3DD)

Happy Summer Movie watching and may the odds be ever in my favor!

6 comments:

  1. Well done, Ryan. Well done. Don't forget MIB III!!

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    1. Liz, maybe we can together to see whatever children's movie I pick. I was leaning towards Brave but if Julia has a favorite, I'll go with that!

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  2. Awesome on so many levels. Here's my big board:

    Lottery Picks
    1. Dark Knight Rises (take nothing that comes out 3 weeks after)
    2. Marvel’s The Avengers (covered in ComiCon drool)
    3. The Amazing Spider-man
    Other first round possibilities
    Abe Lincoln, Vampire Hunter (because it’s true)
    The Dictator (Sasha is magic)
    Snow White and the Huntsman (has Twilight DNA on it, and no competition for 3 weeks after)
    Bourne Legacy (no Damon is a problem, but there are a lot of Bourne fanboys like me out there)
    The Campaign (Will Ferrell, Zach Galifianakis, and Jason Sudeikis in an August desert)

    Overrated:
    MIB III (do kids know who Will Smith is anymore?)
    Dark Shadows (Tim Burton sketchy box office history: http://www.the-numbers.com/people/directors/TBURT.php )
    Total Recall (You can’t remake a bad 80s movie as a good movie. Name one time this ever worked)

    Dark Horses
    Chernobyl Diaries (up against MIB III)
    Moonrise Kingdom (Yeah, you wish.)
    Rock of Ages (if there’s a God, this should beat Adam Sandler’s stupid movie)
    Sparkle ? (Whitney Houston mojo? Probably won’t translate to dollars though)
    Premium Rush (no late summer blockbusters and is this the only driving movie of the year?)

    Kiddie movie (because you need a placekicker. Close your eyes and pick one.)
    Ice Age: Continental Drift
    Diary of a Whimpy Kid
    Madagascar 3

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  3. P.S. only rule I'd try to add would be to somehow figure in the film's budget. In other words, you'd get more points for smaller budget movies making a lot of money. Probably just needs an algorithm (I don't know what that word means). Neil could do the math.

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  4. This. is. amazing.
    Tom, I'm tempted to delete this post so my competitors don't see such sound advice. (I was much more 'in' on Total Recall but I agree with you there and I had "Neighborhood Watch" rated over "The Campaign" but I think I'll have to switch those seeing as the nation is - appropriately - sensitive about Trayvon Martin) Ah but I won't say anymore now because this is already too much! (but seriously - thank you for all the input!! its awesome!)

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  5. Hey guys, great idea. That's exactly what three friends and I did last summer. It worked great, so we are now making it into a website at www.studiowars.com. You can set up your winter league on Studio Wars if you'd like. We run our leagues a little differently than you, we use an auction draft where each player acts as a studio exec investing money. Check us out!

    P.S. To Tom's comment above, we do almost exactly that. Smaller, limited release movies get a multiplier added so they are worth investing in.

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