The Blog at Guess The Gross

WHAT THE?

I’m sure that’s what those of you who have landed here are thinking. No, you didn’t make a mistake. All Guess the Gross operations will originate here until further notice. The good news is that you can type guessthegross.com into your browser of choice and you’ll end up here. Weekly contests, previews, features, reviews, and contests will all take place on the blog until I can redo the GTG site. Over the next few weeks, I’ll do my best to transfer the old reviews to this site so that you can refer them if you want to.

For the time being, I won’t copy old columns to the new site, but if there’s a huge demand for any of Kernan’s columns or Keeley’s rants, I might change my mind.

In the meantime, check out the two previous posts for more information about the big changes at Guess the Gross. The new contest will be posted Sunday evening with instructions as to how to submit your guess. You might have to register for a Typepad login to leave comments, but it’s free.

Thanks to everyone for their support.

Technorati Tags: Announcements

GUESS THE GROSS VERSION 2.0

Last night, I announced, in this space, that after some deliberation, I decided that the best way to honor the loyal readers who have made Guess The Gross a vibrant community, was to improve the site and grow it. I also promised to detail some of our plans for the coming year. While I won't get into specifics on some of the ideas listed below, you will like the direction in which Guess The Gross is moving.

1. First, while the weekly contest will continue -- for the time being -- to be hosted at Guess the Gross, everything else site-related will take place on the blog. Previews, features, news, the weekly contest announcement, etc., will all originate here. I am in the process of teaching myself how to use a new content management system that will strengthen the site and allow for more robust contesting and I suspect that when I'm up and running on the system that you'll see more significant design and feature changes.
2. In regards to the weekly contest, while it will remain free, I will likely offer some sort of low-cost membership plan that will entitle the purchasers to -- among other things -- additional entries into the weekly contest.
3. We will be introducing more contests and more features, columns, and reviews on to the site, thereby giving you a reason to come back each day. In addition, all reviews, features, etc. currently located at Guess the Gross will be ported over to this blog.
4. The Guess the Gross store will open online later this year. (Because I know that many of you have been clamoring for GTG gear.
5. Starting in the second quarter of the year (after the Oscars and before the summer), we're going to hold a quarterly t-shirt design contest where you will have the opportunity to design a shirt and the winner's shirt will be sold at the GTG store with the winner receiving a  50% cut of the net profits.
6. Guess the Gross will soon be holding a membership drive where the top referrers will win some cool prizes.
7. I'm also working with some promotional firms to run some exciting contests.
8. Finally, there will be a greater focus on soundtrack and DVD releases.

There are several other things in the works that I know will make this a better site. If you're interested in joining our editorial or production team (or if you're really good with Drupal), send me an email. While we can't afford to provide you with any monetary compensation at this time -- and no, I'm not making a penny on the site either -- as soon as the site does start generating money, you'll be compensated. In addition, you'll get first crack at any swag the site gets. (Plus, if you review DVDs, you generally get to keep them.)

Once again, it's bedtime. I hope that everyone had a safe and healthy holiday and that you will join me to make Guess the Gross the best movie site on the planet in 2008.

Happy New Year to all.

It's showtime.

--roy

STATE OF THE GUESS THE GROSS UNION

The past year has been a difficult one for Guess the Gross. We have had some technical difficulties as well as problems with our contests. I know that some of our friends no longer check the site as regularly as they once did, and that saddens me. At the same time, I realize that building a great community is something that requires a great deal of attention and, at times, due to real-life intrusions on our little world, I have not always been able to nourish this site to the extent that I would have wished.

I've spent the past few weeks pondering the future of Guess the Gross because the site felt more like a chore over the past year than it did an enjoyable pastime. I considered putting the site to pasture. We have had a good run here, nearly a decade, dating back to the days when we were known as Bikkit.com and founded and led by editor-in-chief emeritus Keeley and I began to wonder if I was doing both him and our regular readers and contributors a disservice by attempting to keep alive a flame that has burned brightly in the past.

After much deliberation, I decided that the best way to honor this site's legacy was not only to continue with it, but also to improve upon our foundation. Since it is already very early in the morning as I type this -- and I suspect that Santa passed overhead several hours ago, which means, no presents for me -- I will post again in the next 24 hours a detailed look at Guess the Gross' plans for 2008.

I am hopeful that the coming year will be one to remember. With your support (which will be rewarded), Guess the Gross is going to rise again, and end up stronger than ever.

SITE DOWN, CONTEST START DELAYED

Thanks to those who emailed me offline about Guess the Gross being down.

I’ve got an urgent email in to the site designer to see if he can fix the problem.

This film guessed week’s contest will be for I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry. For the time being, we’ll wait for the site to go back up. If it does not, we’ll run the contest here and ask you to post your guesses in the comments.

Technorati Tags: Announcements

NEXT WEEK'S CONTEST: TRANSFORMERS

As the release date for Transformers keeps slipping, we here at Guess the Gross have been trying to figure out when to close next week’s contest.

Now that the film will open officially on Monday night (with some 8:00 p.m. showings) and opening wide in most places on Tuesday, the obvious answer would be to open the contest at midnight Monday and close it on Tuesday night. Unfortunately, the great Guess the Gross back end does not allow me to close contests on Tuesday.

After much deliberation -- deliberation which included guessing License to Wed, which opens on Wednesday and checking to see if there are any major releases opening Friday, July 6 (there aren’t) -- I’ve decided that the contest will close at the earliest possible time -- 5:00 p.m. Wednesday.

While I realize that people will likely be able to guess more effectively, since they’ll have Tuesday’s grosses by the time they have to make their pick, I also suspect that, since many major media outlets (like Entertainment Weekly) are still saying that the film will open on Wednesday, the early grosses won’t reflect the film’s full weekend take.

Obviously, there’s the chance that people will realize that the film opens Tuesday and will swamp Tuesday night shows after leaving work for the holiday. Unfortunately, my options are limited technologically. Accordingly, we’ll leave the guessing open until 5:00 p.m. July 4.

Technorati Tags: Announcements, Film, Weekly Contest

THE WRAP: SHREK DEVOURS COMPETITION FOR THIRD TIME

Shrek The Third exploded onto North American movie screens this weekend, taking in an estimated $122 million from Friday to Sunday, as well as another $907,000 from advance Thursday night showings, for a phenomenal $29,597 per screen average. The Paramount/Dreamworks production was the only wide release to enter the top 10 this weekend. Shrek The Third more than doubled the gross of the remaining films in the top 10.

Spider-Man 3 fell to the No. 2 spot after two weeks at No. 1. The film took in $28.5 million and boosted its domestic gross to $281.858 million.

28 Weeks Later also dropped one spot from its previous week’s position, to No. 3, after taking in $5.15 million in its second weekend of release. The film has taken in $18.611 million in 10-days of North American release.

Disturbia holds the No. 4 spot on the chart for a second consecutive week after taking in $3.675 million in its sixth weekend of release, for a total of $71.323 million.

Rounding out the top five is last week’s No. 3 film, Georgia Rule, which sold $3.493 million of tickets in its second weekend of release for a 10-day take of $12.614 million.

In limited release, Once took in an impressive $60,500 on two screens for a per-screen average of $30,250, and a cumulative gross of $70,100 since its release Wednesday (May 16).

The Wendell Baker Story sold $53,600 worth of tickets on 17 screens, for a per screen average of $3,152. Even Money took in $26,000 on six screens for a per screen average of $4,333.

Technorati Tags: Announcements, Film, Weekly Contest, Shrek, Sex, Guess the gross, Winner, Top movie, Weekend box office

PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN 3 CONTEST INFORMATION

The Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End contest will run from Thursday to Monday. This means that all entries need to be in by 8:00 pm EST, Thursday.

It is unclear whether Disney will open the film Wednesday. There have been rumors to that effect, and it appears that they would like to, but might not be able to get the screens they desire for an early opening.

I realize that, at press time, the Thursday screenings are only taking place Thursday night; however, based on the way Shrek The Third’s grosses were reported this weekend -- Thursday showings which began before 12:01 am Friday were reported separately and not included in the three-day weekend gross -- and therefore, there will be some who argue that the contest should begin on Friday. Since we’re probably talking about a few million dollars and since I don’t want to run into a situation next week where we started the contest on Friday and were unable to break out the Thursday grosses separately, I’ve made the executive decision to start the contest on Thursday.

Have a great week and an enjoyable Memorial Day Weekend.

Technorati Tags: Announcements, Film, Weekly Contest, Guess The Gross, Film, Pirates of the Caribbean,

PRIZE DETAILS FOR SPIDER-MAN 3 CONTEST

The summer movie season starts with a bang when Spider-Man 3 hits theater screens in North America, Friday, May 4 and what better way to celebrate the opening of what will likely be the top-grossing film of the year than with a super-sized weekly contest?

Thanks to our friends at Filter, the top three contestants will take home prizes this week. The best guesser will take home a SpiDog and a copy of the Spider-Man 3 soundtrack.

The second and third place finishers will take home a copy of the Spider-Man 3 soundtrack.

Tell your friends about the contest and remember, the more people who participate, the better the prizes.

Also, keep an eye out for the newly-designed Guess the Gross.com, coming soon.

Until then, we’ll be watching movies and hope you will too.

Technorati Tags: Announcements, Film, Weekly Contest

TICKETS OUT: SIX NEW RELEASES LOOK TO CHECK IN TO SPOT

(Welcome to Tickets Out, the newest column at The Blog at Guess The Gross. Each week -- or whenever Kernan feels like writing (hint, hint) -- we’ll preview the films opening in theaters this week.)

There are so many interesting box office shenanigans heading into this weekend that I could not fit it all into my usual guess posted by Roy on Friday. Last week we had six new releases -- though only three that really mattered -- this week we have four new releases and each seems to have a relevant box office appeal.

Leading the pack this week is Vacancy with Luke Wilson and Kate Beckinsale. On 2500+ screens, Vacancy is the weekend’s widest opening movie. The film has a pair of appealing stars whose Q ratings are on the rise but an R-rating and competing directly with the surprise hit Disturbia for the young male demo, Vacancy has an uphill battle.

Providing some head to head demo competition is Hot Fuzz which is maybe the weekend’s biggest marketing blunder or its biggest surprise. The film from the creators of Shaun Of The Dead debuted a few months back with a very strong trailer that got a great reaction. Since then, however, the studio has done everything it can to marginalize what many had thought would be a major release. Frightened by the foreign accents and the cult appeal, the studio behind Hot Fuzz is minimizing the risk of the release by treating it like an art houser. That has had the unfortunate effect of killing the buzz around the movie which now looks to open under $5 million and swiftly disappear.

Another film struggling into the market this week is Fracture starring Anthony Hopkins and Ryan Gosling. The film is leaning on the appeal of Anthony Hopkins to draw an older audience in order to get over the younger skewing Vacancy. A smart move, unfortunately, it relies a lot on strong critical reviews which the film is not getting. Fracture is currently at 79% positive on rottentomatoes.com, which is impressive. Older audiences are the one demo that still listens to critics and without solid reviews in major publications they may not turn out.

On the opposite end of the marketing scale is the new teen drama In The Land of Women which has real sleeper potential. I love the campaign for this film which has focused strongly on the teen friendly presence of Adam Brody who looks like a young Tom Hanks. The trailers and commercials are hip and amusing and romantic. Most impressively, the film has launched a very strong viral campaign thru MySpace.com where star Adam Brody holds court directly with his teen femme fan base. Watch out for this one as a sleeper pick to break the top three this weekend.

Technorati Tags: Announcements, Business, Film, Tickets Out, Weekly Contest

LIVE BLOGGING THE OSCARS -- CANCELED

While you’re watching the Academy Award ceremony on ABC Sunday night (February 25), be sure to stop by The Blog at Guess the Gross where your hosts Kernan and Roy will be here to live blog the ceremony for you.

We’ll be here for the duration, discussing our picks, analyzing the winners, and making fun of the losers. We promise to clap loudly for all of the members of the Academy that we lost in the past year -- not just the popular ones.

And we will be here when all is said and done to wrap the evening while everyone else heads off to the Governor’s Ball.

So be there or be Sean Keeley. Sunday, Sunday, Sunday.

Due to circumstances beyond our control, the Academy Awards live blog looks like it won’t take place this evening. One of your hosts is without power after a strong winter storm rolled through and your other host knows that this is a team effort.

We promise to wrap up the ceremony in a blog post and be sure to check in at 8:00 pm ET in case anything changes, but as of now -- 6:30 pm ET -- the live blog is canceled.

Sorry.

Enjoy the show.

UPDATE: STILL NOT HAPPENING... Sorry. Enjoy the show.

Technorati Tags: Announcements, Awards, Film