Top 5 Films of Winter 2018

Ok, time for us to do the vote thing.

The poll will close in exactly 3 weeks, on Monday October 29. Any film that opens in Nov-Dec-Jan-Feb is eligible in our contest. We are measuring US domestic boxoffice take and the contest will end as soon as it is clear that we know the top 5 films of the winter season. It is likely we will know by the middle of March, perhaps sooner.

VOTE FOR 5 FILMS, NO MORE, NO LESS. FAILING TO VOTE FOR 5 FILMS WILL BRING GREAT SCORN DOWN UPON YOU.

Here are the contenders:

Bohemian Rhapsody (Nov 2)
The Grinch (Nov 9)
Fantastic Beasts 2 (Nov 16)
Ralph Breaks the Internet (Nov 21)
Into the Spiderverse (Dec 14)
Mary Poppins Returns (Dec 19)
Aquaman (Dec 21)
Bumblebee (Dec 21)
Glass (Jan 18)
LegoMovie 2 (Feb 8)
How To Train Your Dragon 3 (Feb 22)

You will note that our end of February cut off date precludes you from taking Captain Marvel, which opens March 8th and is likely to make more than any of these films. Sorry.

If you don't like any of the choices mentioned in the poll, there is an option to vote for "field" which is any film not named in the poll. I left some pretty decent contenders in the "field" including:
Nutcracker and the Four Realms (Nov 2) , Creed 2 (Nov 21), Mortal Engines (Dec 14), Welcome to Marwen (Dec 21), Holmes and Watson (Dec 21), and Vice (Dec 25).

As always, feel free to post your picks and your rationale. There are a lot of strong contenders here and I bet we have more diversity of picks than usual. There may be no more than a couple films that get more than 75% of the vote. Should be fun!

-Jason "field really does look attractive... hmmmm" Evans

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Originally Posted by JasonEvans

VOTE FOR 5 FILMS, NO MORE, NO LESS. FAILING TO VOTE FOR 5 FILMS WILL BRING GREAT SCORN DOWN UPON YOU.

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Dunkirk really should be an option ;)

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Originally Posted by JasonEvans

… You will note that our end of February cut off date precludes you from taking Captain Marvel, which opens March 8th and is likely to make more than any of these films. ...

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Likely to make more than ALL of the films combined.

Fantastic Beasts 2
Ralph Breaks the Internet
Mary Poppins Returns
Aquaman
Lego Movie 2

Well I thought I clicked on Lego movie but it has me down for Dragon 3... must've fat fingered that on my phone.

Mine were Fantastic Beasts, Spiderverse, Glass, Lego, and the field.

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Originally Posted by JasonEvans

There are a lot of strong contenders here and I bet we have more diversity of picks than usual. There may be no more than a couple films that get more than 75% of the vote. Should be fun!

-Jason "field really does look attractive... hmmmm" Evans

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So far, only 1 film above 75% and every film in the list except 1 has gotten a vote. The field has 3 votes! Yup, lots of varied opinions this time. I think that if you get 4 out of 5 you will be doing really, really well this season.

This is an underwhelming winter as far as anything that interests me, but it does make for an interesting contest. here goes:

Bohemian Rhapsody - The only adult movie in the list, but that really doesn't mean what it used to.

Ralph, Waterman, Lego 2, Spiderverse - pure hunches. I have no idea what drives kids and their parents these days and I find it more and more difficult to tell them apart.

That's right. It's my lawn....step away.

I kid you not... this trailer has me seriously rethinking my votes. I had almost discarded Glass as a contender, but this looks simply amazing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_c...&v=Q7ztHi9ejp4

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Originally Posted by JasonEvans

I kid you not... this trailer has me seriously rethinking my votes. I had almost discarded Glass as a contender, but this looks simply amazing.

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M. Night Shyamalan is such a dangerous pick.

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Originally Posted by PackMan97

M. Night Shyamalan is such a dangerous pick.

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I can see it now. All the dreck was just setting up the ultimate twist: another good movie from M. Night.

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Originally Posted by PackMan97

M. Night Shyamalan is such a dangerous pick.

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Yeah, I am really torn. I mean, Lady in the Water, The Happening, The Last Airbender, and After Earth are terrible films. But, The Visit was a decent horror flick and I really liked Split. We know he is capable of making very good movies (Sixth Sense and Unbreakable are very good and I really enjoyed Signs too, despite the stupid ending).

I think it may be entirely possible that his career is following a wave motion. Have a look at what I just put together:

https://image.ibb.co/eOYcJp/Night-Graphic.png

If so, we may be about to see his crowning achievement.

-Jason "like I said, I am torn" Evans

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Originally Posted by JasonEvans

… If so, we may be about to see his crowning achievement.

-Jason "like I said, I am torn" Evans

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Turds crown ...

I was just sent an email by a publicist asking me if I would watch a new film coming out this winter. Here is the film synopsis.

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In the pulse pounding new action flick, Speed Kills, John Travolta stars as a speedboat racing champion and multimillionaire whose secret life as a drug trafficker lands him in a deadly crossfire between the DEA and the Mob.

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I can't decide if I want to see it just for the hilarity of how bad it probably is.

-Jason "can you say...https://thenypost.files.wordpress.co...y=90&strip=all" Evans

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Originally Posted by JasonEvans

Yeah, I am really torn. I mean, Lady in the Water, The Happening, The Last Airbender, and After Earth are terrible films. But, The Visit was a decent horror flick and I really liked Split. We know he is capable of making very good movies (Sixth Sense and Unbreakable are very good and I really enjoyed Signs too, despite the stupid ending).

I think it may be entirely possible that his career is following a wave motion. Have a look at what I just put together:

https://image.ibb.co/eOYcJp/Night-Graphic.png

If so, we may be about to see his crowning achievement.

-Jason "like I said, I am torn" Evans

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This graphic makes me legitimately angry that Shyamalan makes as much money as he does to do what he does. The only one of his films I've ever seen in the theater was 'The Village,' which was piping hot garbage. The only time in my life that I've gone from one movie straight into another, out of sheer indignation. If that's the middle of the road in his canon (actually slightly above average according to the chart), then the man is in the wrong profession.

10 days left to vote... I'm thrilled that every since film in the poll has gotten at least 1 vote. There appear to be 2 strong consensus picks (80% of voters thus far) and one more that seems to be a strong favorite (60%) but the rest is a series of nearly random guesses. I love it! While I suspect no one will go 5-for-5, this may be the year where even getting 4 of them is a big deal!

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Originally Posted by wilson

This graphic makes me legitimately angry that Shyamalan makes as much money as he does to do what he does. The only one of his films I've ever seen in the theater was 'The Village,' which was piping hot garbage. The only time in my life that I've gone from one movie straight into another, out of sheer indignation. If that's the middle of the road in his canon (actually slightly above average according to the chart), then the man is in the wrong profession.

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The Village wasn't bad...it just had too many expectations on it as the follow up to Unbreakable and Signs. M. Knight was the new hotness and much was hoped for in his third feature.

Based on past performance, I'm more likely to win the MegaMillions billion than win this thing, but what the hey!

Jason, being a huge JJ Abrams fan, any chance Overlord plays into a "field" vote? Seen it?

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Originally Posted by accfanfrom1970

Jason, being a huge JJ Abrams fan, any chance Overlord plays into a "field" vote? Seen it?

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I have not seen it... but the chance it is a player in our Top 5 is zero. It does not have the marketing budget or the profile of a film that would have a chance to reach a wide enough audience. I would guestimate that it will make about $40-50 mil over its entire run, if even that. It is getting good early reviews so maybe it can break out a bit, but by "break out" we are talking maybe... maybe... making $100 mil. That would be a huge surprise though.

Also, JJ is not a writer or director on it, he is a producer. It was his idea and his production company made it, but it is not like he was intimately involved in making this flick. He's a little busy on Star Wars 9 at the moment.

-Jason "the biggest Zombie film of all time is World War Z, which made $202 million... after that we get the zombie comedy Zombieland at $75 mil. Overlord would have to be far and away the 2nd biggest zombie movie ever to be a player in our contest" Evans

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Originally Posted by JasonEvans

-Jason "the biggest Zombie film of all time is World War Z, which made $202 million... after that we get the zombie comedy Zombieland at $75 mil. Overlord would have to be far and away the 2nd biggest zombie movie ever to be a player in our contest" Evans

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In May 2018, Woody Harrelson confirmed Zombieland 2 would probably happen.[76] It is scheduled to be released on October 11, 2019, which would be the 10th anniversary of the original film's release, with the original cast returning.[77] Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick have confirmed new details and the film will be titled as Zombieland Too.[78] Production is set to start in January 2019.[79]

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zombieland

Bummer about that release date, it would be fun to see it be an option in a future poll.