Annoyed by March Madness? Baffled by Fantasy Football? Hate sports of all kinds? Then here’s a fun pastime for you and your ilk: a Summer Movie Box Office Fantasy Draft! But hurry – you don’t have much time!
The game is about using your Box Office predicting skills to select which summer movies will earn the most money. Then, using your bidding skills, you try to win said movies. If your “roster” of movies (that you have won in the auction) has the highest combined American Box Office at the end of the summer wins the game! Let the Box Office prognostication begin!
Here’s how it works:
1) Find between 10-15 summer box office prediction-loving people, and collect $20 (or whatever you want) from each.
2) Each participant receives 100 imaginary “B.O. Buck$” and a release schedule of the Top 50 2009 summer movies, starting with the May 1 weekend, so they can plan which films they want to “draft.” (Such lists are available at BoxOfficeMojo and other sites.)
3) Cut out the names of said Top 50 films, and place them in a hat, then get everyone together – it’s time for the draft to begin!
4) Pick the first movie from the hat, then bid, baby, BID! The participants should yell out their bids (in B.O. Buck$) for that movie. Whoever bids the most, wins that movie for their roster. (If it’s a tie for 100 B.O. Buck$, flip a coin – or give it to whoever said “100” first.)
5) Keep picking the movies out of the hat. This bidding will be more fun and exciting than you expect. The adrenaline really pumps. Each player only has 100 B.O. Buck$ to play with, so bid wisely. Obviously, big blockbusters like Star Trek or Harry Potter will go for a lot. But stocking up on bargain sleeper hits can make sense. (Or maybe not. Who knows? I’ve never done this before.) Unspent B.O. Buck$ do nothing for you, so don’t get left hanging with leftover money.
6) Once all the movies have been won, have the biggest dork in your team type up everyone’s roster. Then, let the summer begin. As the movies are released, every Monday said dork can type in the Box Office numbers and email the running tally to the players. (I haven’t experienced this part at all, but I assume it will also be exciting.)
7) At the end of the summer, Labor Day Weekend, whoever’s roster has the highest total U.S. Box Office (according to Box Office Mojo) wins all the real (non-B.O. Buck$) money! These rules are flexible. If you can improve the game, do so!
After my draft. Here the roster I ended up with (and the winning bid that I paid, in B.O. Buck$):
Whatever Works – 20
Julie and Julia – 25
The Hangover – 30
Moon – 10
Dance Flick – 10
I know, I seem like a world-class dunce. Even if all my movies are massive hits, it seems impossible that I will win the summer, given the competition. I could explain exactly how my bidding went off the rails, but you should learn those hard lessons yourself. (You don’t always get the movies you want!) But please, don’t judge me until you after you’ve been through an auction yourself. It’s a whirlwind of crazy bad decisions!
So, this is it people! Do it now! You can’t win unless you play!