View Poll Results: Top 5 Holiday Movies (U.S. Gross Only)

Voters
26. You may not vote on this poll
  • Puss N Boots

    9 34.62%
  • Harold and Kumar : 3D Christmas

    1 3.85%
  • J. Edgar

    4 15.38%
  • Twilight: Breaking Dawn, Part 1

    21 80.77%
  • Happy Feet 2

    6 23.08%
  • The Muppets

    10 38.46%
  • Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol

    11 42.31%
  • Sherlock Holmes 2

    18 69.23%
  • Alvin and the Chipmunks 3: Chipwrecked

    5 19.23%
  • Girl With the Dragon Tatoo

    16 61.54%
  • Adventures of Tin Tin: Secret of the Unicorn

    3 11.54%
  • The Sitter

    0 0%
  • Arthur Christmas

    0 0%
  • Hugo

    1 3.85%
  • Other (list it in a response)

    0 0%
Multiple Choice Poll.
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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Boston, MA

    Top Movies of the Holidays

    I know, I know..seems like the summer just ended. And after all, it's only October, and not even Halloween...but just like the Summer Blockbuster season keeps creeping backwards, so to does the Christmas / Thanksgiving season.

    This Friday, Puss N Boots opens, and there is NO DOUBT that this is a contender for top 5 over the season, and no doubt they are hoping it to still draw big come Thanksgiving.

    Given that, we need to start the pool now. So, decide between the typical holiday animation movies, the dramas, the action flicks, and the feel good stories. (and by the way, this list looks brutal...other than Twilight, and Sherlock, I think a ton of them have a great shot to make the top 5.

  2. #2

    top 5

    Not a very inspiring list ... went for the kiddie and the teen movies. The only one I might go see myself is Harold and Kumar (as long as I can find a theater that is NOT showing it in 3-S. I will not pay to see a 3-D movie!)

    I think I'll spend a lot more time watching my Christmas DVD collection:

    8. A Christmass Carol (the Alistair Sim version)
    7. All I Want for Christmas
    6. Three Godfathers
    5. Scrooged
    4. Christmas in Connecticut
    3. A Christmas Story ("You'll shoot your eye out")

    And on Christmas eve:
    2. Miracle on 34th Street
    1. It's a Wonderful Life

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Boston, MA
    Personally, my favorite version of A Christmas Carol was the one with Henry Winkler in it. I saw it once, and don't know if it's even on anymore...but he nailed it. Most Scrooges are just too mean to start with (Patrick Stewart being the best example)...Winkler was a workaholic who was mean to others only because he couldn't understand why everyone didn't feel the need to work as hard as he did.

    Another I would add to the list is When Harry Met Sally (more a New Year's Eve kind of watching, though)

    Also looking forward to Harold...though the 2nd was a major bummer.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    St. Louis
    Quote Originally Posted by Udaman View Post
    Personally, my favorite version of A Christmas Carol was the one with Henry Winkler in it. I saw it once, and don't know if it's even on anymore...but he nailed it. Most Scrooges are just too mean to start with (Patrick Stewart being the best example)...Winkler was a workaholic who was mean to others only because he couldn't understand why everyone didn't feel the need to work as hard as he did.

    Another I would add to the list is When Harry Met Sally (more a New Year's Eve kind of watching, though)

    Also looking forward to Harold...though the 2nd was a major bummer.
    I'm partial to the Christmas Carol version that starred George C. Scott, although we also enjoy the Alistair Sim performance.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    Charlotte, North Carolina
    Not exactly a list of must-sees, is it? I'm doubting that the holiday season will make up for the poor summer turnout. Where's the LOTR entry to provide something worth watching this holiday season?

    Not many choices seem easy or safe.

    MI:4 - entry into a successful but played out series. I'm personally interested to see what animation genius Brad Bird does with the live action, but, well, it's Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt...again.

    Puss In Boots: Spinoff from a played out series. Take the best character and try to squeeze some box office $$ out of a stand-alone story. I'll see it at some point with the kids for the Antonio Banderas and Selma Hayek voice work. On DVD. If the reviews are ok.

    Twilight: I'm not sure how much you would have to pay me to watch this, but amazingly there are plenty of people who work that equation the other way around. Which is why Hollywood makes stuff like this. It's probably as close to a shoo-in as anything on the list.

    Sherlock Holmes 2: The first movie felt like such a missed opportunity. It wasn't a BAD movie, it just wasn't as good as it should have been. Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law are very well cast. My wife and I both have Rachel McAdams number 2 behind Scarlett Johansson on the list of women we'd risk ruining our marriage to be with (which is about reason number 73 I'm blessed to have the wife I have). Is McAdams in this or not? She's on the IMDB cast, not seen in trailer 1, seen in a single brief shot in trailer 2, her name's not splashed on the cast list in either trailer...I'm confused. Anyway, I'm hoping (but not expecting) that Mr. Madonna will get it right this time.

    Happy Feet 2: blech. My last choice. The first movie turned into such a manipulative piece of soap-box preaching. I have less interest in watching this than I do Twilight. But the kiddies will want to see the penguins doing a rip-off of Stomp all over again, so I put it in my top 5.

    Addendum: All my complaining about lack of must-sees aside, at some point I will make sure to see J. Edgar, if not in the theater, then on DVD. DiCaprio has become one of my favorite actors and has really been nailing his roles the last few years. I will be very interested to see him perform in a biopic on one of the more interesting and controversial Americans of the last century.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Hot'Lanta... home of the Falcons!
    Thanks to Udaman for putting this together. As most of ya'll know, I have been out of town and just got back. It is good that he did this before the Puss opening on Friday, which could be a real player for the Top 5.

    I see this winter as a very difficult one to call. There are a couple that I think are locks, but the awards contenders are the tough ones to figure out as they often show much longer legs and get a real push into January that boosts their boxoffice. Last winter it took The King's Speech 7 weeks to even reach the top 10 in the weekend boxoffice. But, it then stayed in the top 10 for 10 consecutive weekends and went on to make $135 mil.

    There are movies not even on your list that could be real contenders, like War Horse, We Bought a Zoo, New Year's Eve, and Immortals. I think Jack and Jill has a better shot at the Top 5 of winter than The Sitter does.

    Anyway, here are my picks--

    • Twilight - a mortal lock to make $250 mil+. The last one made $300 mil. I cannot see how this one does worse than that.
    • Sherlock 2 - the last one made $210 mil as a film launching a franchise. I cannot see how this one does not make at least the same amount.
    • Dragon Tattoo - there are 15 million copies of the book in print. At $10 per ticket, that is $150 mill in boxoffice just from folks who read the book... assuming no one ever shared the book with a family member or friend.



    After those three, it gets a bit harder.

    I think the trailer for Ghost Protocol looks awesome. It is the first live-action film by director Brad Bird, who is yet to make a movie that was not great (Iron Giant, Incredibles, Ratatouille). I have great confidence in him and in producer JJ Abrams. But... Tom Cruise is boxoffice poison. Seriously. I thought MI III was a really good film and it only made $134 mil because so many people don't like Tom Cruise any more. Neither Valkyrie nor Knight & Day managed to even make $90 million. That's bad for a big star like TC. If this movie had just about any other star in the lead, I would be picking it in a heartbeat. With Tom... I just don't know.

    I saw a screening of Puss in Boots over the weekend. It is ok -- neither horrible nor great. It has a huge head start on the season but I am not sure it will quite have the quality to get to the $150 mil it needs to be in the Top 5.

    I am petrified to pick one of the many kid flicks over the rest. Puss, Happy Feet 2, Arthur Christmas, The Muppets, Alvin and the Chipmunks -- I just don't know which of these to pick. Maybe none of them?!?!

    And then there are the superstar directors going against type -- Spielberg doing animation with Tintin and Scorsese doing family fun with Hugo... ordinarily picking either of these directors would be a decent move, but the pool of family films is really deep this season.

    Spielberg actually releases two major films the same week with Tintin and War Horse coming just days apart. I don't think I can ever recall a director doing that.

    I'll think a bit more before making my final choices. This is much tougher for me than the summer was.

    -Jason "good to be back on the DBR!" Evans
    Why are you wasting time here when you could be wasting it by listening to the latest episode of the DBR Podcast?

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Boston, MA

    Jack and Jill

    The previews look truly, truly awful. I mean cringe worthy awful. This is going to get absolutely obliterated by the critics. Torn to shreds. Sandler is normally gold, and has a big group that will go see anything he does (see GrownUps)...but this looks more like Mr. Deeds or Click...only not as good.

    I think it might break $100M...but probably won't.

    JE - you are right that it will likely do better than The Sitter....but those previews look kind of funny, compared to this one. I just think Jack N Jill is going to tank. We'll see.

    As for the Top 5...Twilight and Sherlock are locks. I'm not sold on Girl With the Dragon Tatoo. It's really dark. It's a brutal subject matter. It will be rated R for sure (and not a comedy). It's also up against huge, huge competition (they are making a bad decision to release it when they are going against Mission Impossible, Sherlock Holmes and TinTin). This won't be in my top 5.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Hot'Lanta... home of the Falcons!
    Quote Originally Posted by Udaman View Post
    As for the Top 5...Twilight and Sherlock are locks. I'm not sold on Girl With the Dragon Tatoo. It's really dark. It's a brutal subject matter. It will be rated R for sure (and not a comedy). It's also up against huge, huge competition (they are making a bad decision to release it when they are going against Mission Impossible, Sherlock Holmes and TinTin). This won't be in my top 5.
    You are maxing out at 4 out of 5 then.

    The foreign language version of Dragon Tattoo, which never played in more than 200 theaters, earned more than 10 million dollars in the U.S. -- the best performance by a foreign language film in 3 years. That was with zero advertising budget and subtitles.

    Like I said, there are 15 million copies of this book in print. Many books get read by more than one person, as they get passed around to friends and family. The audience for this movie of just folks who read the book make it a virtual lock to earn $180 mil. I agree that it is being released at a time when there will be tremendous competition at the boxoffice, but I will be beyond stunned if this film doesn't reach a huge audience.

    Yes, it is dark, but the audience knows to expect that. The trailers generated fabulous buzz and I have tremendous confidence in director David Fincher. I mean, has he ever made a bad movie? Writer Steven Zaillian has a great track record too.

    So, we've got a film with a huge built-in audience and one of the best directors in Hollywood working on a story that we already know to be excellent (though I think they will have to excise huge chunks of it for the movie). I cannot think of any way this movie is not a tremendous success.

    I may be working against myself in this contest, by convincing other folks to bet on this movie, but I consider it a mortal lock to be in the top 5.

    -Jason "this article makes it clear -- Fincher is producing a very dark film... but I think the Dragon Tattoo audience will appreciate that" Evans
    Why are you wasting time here when you could be wasting it by listening to the latest episode of the DBR Podcast?

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Boston, MA
    Damn you and your logic!!!!

    Yes, you are probably right.

    I just see MI 4, Twilight and Sherlock as absolute locks. That leaves 2 spots.

    Alvin (and its sequal) both made over $200M. I think that's highly likely this time as well (kids love it, and it is rated G, and it comes out Dec 16th, so no real "true kid" competition from that point on (both the other kid movies will lean toward the older crowd).

    Then you have Muppets (which all my kids want to see) and Arthur, and Happy Feet, and Hugo...one of these will get good reviews and be like Tangled was last year.

    I think in the end it will come down to MI4 v. Tattoo...and it all depends on the Cruise factor. Then again, we could have a sleeper come out of nowhere.

    Tough year, for sure.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Hot'Lanta... home of the Falcons!
    Quote Originally Posted by Udaman View Post
    Damn you and your logic!!!!

    Yes, you are probably right.
    If it as not for Fincher being in charge, I would be seriously worried about this flick and would likely be in your boat expecting it to be too dark for the mainstream public. But the dude makes quality films and often does quite well when he verges into the dark (Se7en, Fight Club, Zodiac). I am banking on him as much as I am on the huge success of the book in picking this film.

    Similarly, I am probably going to pick MI:4 because of Brad Bird... despite the drawdown that is Tom Cruise.

    As for my 5th pick -- I refuse to pick that junk that is the Chipmunks! Those films are horrid. I know they make money hand over fist but I would rather be wrong than pick one of them! I feel the same about Happy Feet.

    I'll probably go with another director for my #5 -- perhaps J Edgar (Eastwood), Tintin (Spielberg), Hugo (MartyS), or War Horse (Spielberg).

    When does this thing end? If it goes until mid-February, War Horse may become quite attractive as it is getting some good Oscar-related buzz.

    -Jason "going kid-flick is always a good idea though-- I'll probably be dead wrong about something this winter" Evans
    Why are you wasting time here when you could be wasting it by listening to the latest episode of the DBR Podcast?

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    Mary's Place
    Gotta go with the Muppets. The Muppet Family Christmas is a classic, so both young Turks and old Turks (some of whom just refuse to grow up) will be very interested to see how this one turns out...
    "Quality is not an option!"

  12. #12
    Can't wait for Dragon Tattoo. The books by Stieg Larsson were crazy good - the suck you in kind of good. The trilogy of Swedish movies with Noomi Rapace were excellent - the kind of movie where you can not wait for the next and she was amazing. Looking forward to Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara. I hope they are half as good as the subtitled Swedish ones. Even half as good will be awesome.
    ~rthomas

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Seattle, WA
    Quote Originally Posted by JasonEvans View Post
    • Twilight - a mortal lock
    Pun intended??


    I was wondering why no mention of "One for the Money," but see that it's not coming out until post-holidays. I was all prepared to make an argument why it might draw a stronger-than-expected box office.

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Hot'Lanta... home of the Falcons!
    Quote Originally Posted by DevilAlumna View Post
    I was wondering why no mention of "One for the Money," but see that it's not coming out until post-holidays. I was all prepared to make an argument why it might draw a stronger-than-expected box office.
    I would loooove to hear this argument. We are talking about a film starring Katherine Heigl, who has been in exactly one film that made $100+ million (Knocked Up). She does not exactly have a great track record of quality films either. One For The Money does not feature an established director or writer either. It is getting a late-January release, which is a bit of a kiss of death and generally means then movie is just not all that good.

    I know that the Stephanie Plumb novels are big and generally hit #1 on Amazon and other bookseller lists, but even if it was released in mid-December, I don's see this film as one that will come close to making around $150 million, which is the approx. threshold for being one of the Top 5 of the season.

    I would expect One to make about $40-$60 million -- right in the range of what Katherine Heigl's last couple movies made.

    -Jason "if the film is better than expect, I could see it getting to $80 mil, but more than that would be a huge, huge surprise" Evans
    Why are you wasting time here when you could be wasting it by listening to the latest episode of the DBR Podcast?

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Boston, MA
    I did my vote. A few things:

    1) All of you who didn't take Alvin & the Chipmunks have ensured you will lose. The TERRIBLE (and I mean terrible) 2nd movie made over $200M. This movie is a lock for $175M - people will take their little kids and they will love it.

    2) The hardest pick for me was the last one. I went with The Muppets. Why? Because I think at least 2 kid movies will make the top 5, and Chipmunks is one of those. As for the other, I'm going with my kids. They've all seen the preview and they all want to see The Muppets. Plus I think the parents will have nostalgia going for them. Finally, I think Arthur Christmas just won't quite work, and TinTin looks too grown up (and dark), and Hugo looks just darn strange.

    3) I really wanted to pick MI 4...just couldn't do it.

    4) I did go with GWTDT...but have a feeling I might regret it.

    5) The final tabulation will be January 30th (the end of that weekend). This gives the X-Mas movies 5 full weeks.

    6) The wildcards, in my opinion, are the adult comedies (Harold & Kumar, The Sitter), and of course the kid movies.

    7) Happy Feet 2 looks...truly terrible.

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Hot'Lanta... home of the Falcons!
    Quote Originally Posted by Udaman View Post
    4) I did go with GWTDT...but have a feeling I might regret it.
    This is cheating! You only picked it because I convinced you

    -Jason "Crud, now I fear your picks and my picks may be virtually identical" Evans
    Why are you wasting time here when you could be wasting it by listening to the latest episode of the DBR Podcast?

  17. #17
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Location
    California
    There are only about ten minutes left until the poll closes.

    Get those votes in--more wrong voters will make my 5/5 appear even more impressive!

  18. #18
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Hot'Lanta... home of the Falcons!
    Ohmygod! I got caught up in some work stuff and totally forgot to vote in time. I am so sorry!!

    In any event, my choices are:

    Twilight
    Sherlock 2
    Dragon Tattoo
    MI: 4
    and Tintin

    --Jason "I bow to the will of the masses as to whether my choices count " Evans
    Why are you wasting time here when you could be wasting it by listening to the latest episode of the DBR Podcast?

  19. #19
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    Charlotte, North Carolina
    I say to hell with the rules...let Evans in! Arrrgghh!

  20. #20
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Ashburn, VA
    I am overseas and have had no access to internet for about a week, so forgive me for missing the poll. I have no idea how any B.O. returns have been so far, because of course, I check DBR first =)

    Anyway, I'd like to vote for Twilight, Sherlock Holmes, Chipmunks, Happy Feet, and Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

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