Over the past seven weekends, Culture Snob’s Box Office Power Rankings were won by Quentin Tarantino (twice), Tyler Perry, Meatballs (twice), and zombies (twice). No one could have possibly known that until now, however, because apparently I’ve been in a coma.
What did I miss? Well, there was a flood of new releases, with 24 movies debuting in the box-office top 10 over the seven weeks. Thankfully if inexplicably, only Couples Retreat opened wide this past weekend, allowing Paranormal Activity to grab the spotlight, earning almost $8 million at a mere 160 theaters.
The homemade, low-budget horror movie has drawn a lot of comparisons to The Blair Witch Project 10 years ago, and with good reason.
The Blair Witch Project: initial budget of between $20,000 and $25,000; Rotten Tomatoes score of 85; Metacritic score of 81.
Paranormal Activity: initial budget of $11,000; Rotten Tomatoes score of 86; Metacritic score of 68.
Blair Witch’s rollout started at 27 theaters and increased to 2,142 by its fourth weekend, generating $11,000 per site by the time of that wide release. (Over the past seven weeks, only two top-10 movies had weekends with a per-theater average of more than $10,000.) Paranormal Activity’s release is more gradual, with 760 sites this coming weekend – its fourth.
A key difference, though, is when each movie generated its buzz. Blair Witch’s per-theater averages were $56,000, $64,000, $27,000, and then $11,000. In other words, anticipation was there before the movie opened anywhere. Paranormal has presumably built excitement more through word-of-mouth, with per-theater averages of $6,000 and $16,000 before last weekend’s $49,000.
| Box Office Power Rankings: August 28-30, 2009 | |||||||
| Box Office Ranks | Critics’ Ranks | ||||||
| Rank | Movie | Last Week | Gross | Per Theater | Rotten Tomatoes | Metacritic | Total |
| 1 | Inglourious Basterds | 2 | 9 ($19.3M) | 9 ($6.1K) | 9 (88) | 9 (69) | 36 |
| 2 | District 9 | 1 | 7 ($10.3M) | 7 ($3.2K) | 10 (90) | 10 (80) | 34 |
| 3 | Julie and Julia | 3 | 5 ($7M) | 6 ($2.8K) | 8 (75) | 8 (66) | 27 |
| 4 | The Final Destination | – | 10 ($27.4M) | 10 ($8.8K) | 3 (29) | 1 (30) | 24 |
| 5 | Taking Woodstock | – | 2 ($3.5M) | 5 ($2.5K) | 7 (51) | 7 (55) | 21 |
| 5 | Halloweeen II | – | 8 ($16.3M) | 8 ($5.4K) | 1 (21) | 4 (46) | 21 |
| 7 | G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra | 7 | 6 ($7.7M) | 4 ($2.2K) | 5 (36) | 2 (32) | 17 |
| 7 | The Time Traveler’s Wife | 5 | 4 ($6.5M) | 3 ($2.2K) | 5 (36) | 5 (47) | 17 |
| 9 | Shorts | 6 | 3 ($4.5M) | 1 ($1.5K) | 6 (45) | 6 (53) | 16 |
| 10 | G-Force | 8 | 1 ($2.8M) | 2 ($1.5K) | 2 (24) | 3 (41) | 8 |
| Box Office Power Rankings: September 4-7, 2009 | |||||||
| Box Office Ranks | Critics’ Ranks | ||||||
| Rank | Movie | Last Week | Gross | Per Theater | Rotten Tomatoes | Metacritic | Total |
| 1 | Inglourious Basterds | 1 | 9 ($15M) | 7 ($4.5K) | 9 (88) | 9 (69) | 34 |
| 2 | District 9 | 2 | 6 ($9.1M) | 5 ($2.9K) | 10 (90) | 10 (80) | 31 |
| 3 | The Final Destination | 4 | 10 ($15.3M) | 9 ($4.9K) | 4 (29) | 3 (30) | 26 |
| 4 | Julie and Julia | 3 | 5 ($7.1M) | 4 ($2.8K) | 8 (75) | 8 (66) | 25 |
| 5 | Extract | – | 2 ($5.5M) | 6 ($3.4K) | 7 (64) | 7 (61) | 22 |
| 6 | Gamer | – | 7 ($11.2M) | 8 ($4.5K) | 4 (29) | 2 (27) | 21 |
| 7 | All About Steve | – | 8 ($14.1M) | 10 ($6.2K) | 1 (7) | 1 (17) | 20 |
| 8 | G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra | 7 | 3 ($6.7M) | 3 ($2.4K) | 6 (36) | 4 (32) | 16 |
| 9 | The Time Traveler’s Wife | 7 | 1 ($5.5M) | 1 ($2K) | 6 (36) | 6 (47) | 14 |
| 10 | Halloweeen II | 5 | 4 ($6.9M) | 2 ($2.2K) | 2 (21) | 5 (46) | 13 |
| Box Office Power Rankings: September 11-13, 2009 | |||||||
| Box Office Ranks | Critics’ Ranks | ||||||
| Rank | Movie | Last Week | Gross | Per Theater | Rotten Tomatoes | Metacritic | Total |
| 1 | Tyler Perry’s I Can Do Bad All By Myself | – | 10 ($23.4M) | 10 ($10.4K) | 7 (64) | 6 (55) | 33 |
| 2 | Inglourious Basterds | 8 ($6.1M) | 6 ($1.9K) | 9 (88) | 9 (69) | 32 | |
| 3 | 9 | – | 9 ($10.7M) | 9 ($6.5K) | 6 (56) | 7 (60) | 31 |
| 4 | District 9 | 2 | 3 ($3.5M) | 3 ($1.4K) | 10 (90) | 10 (80) | 26 |
| 5 | The Final Destination | 3 | 6 ($5.5M) | 7 ($2K) | 5 (29) | 5 (30) | 23 |
| 6 | Julie and Julia | 4 | 1 ($3.2M) | 2 ($1.3K) | 8 (75) | 8 (66) | 19 |
| 7 | All About Steve | 7 | 7 ($5.6M) | 8 ($2.5K) | 2 (7) | 1 (17) | 18 |
| 8 | Sorority Row | – | 5 ($5.1M) | 5 ($1.9K) | 3 (25) | 2 (24) | 15 |
| 9 | Whiteout | – | 4 ($4.9M) | 4 ($1.8K) | 1 (6) | 4 (28) | 13 |
| 10 | Gamer | 6 | 2 ($3.3M) | 1 ($1.3K) | 5 (29) | 3 (27) | 11 |
| Box Office Power Rankings: September 18-20, 2009 | |||||||
| Box Office Ranks | Critics’ Ranks | ||||||
| Rank | Movie | Last Week | Gross | Per Theater | Rotten Tomatoes | Metacritic | Total |
| 1 | Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs | – | 10 ($30.3M) | 10 ($9.7K) | 9 (85) | 9 (66) | 38 |
| 2 | The Informant! | – | 9 ($10.5M) | 7 ($4.2K) | 8 (76) | 9 (66) | 33 |
| 3 | Tyler Perry’s I Can Do Bad All By Myself | 1 | 8 ($9.9M) | 9 ($4.4K) | 7 (64) | 6 (55) | 30 |
| 4 | Inglourious Basterds | 2 | 4 ($3.8M) | 3 ($1.5K) | 10 (88) | 10 (69) | 27 |
| 5 | 9 | 3 | 5 ($5.6M) | 6 ($2.7K) | 6 (56) | 7 (60) | 24 |
| 6 | Love Happens | – | 7 ($8.1M) | 8 ($4.2K) | 2 (17) | 4 (33) | 21 |
| 6 | Jennifer’s Body | – | 6 ($6.9M) | 5 ($2.5K) | 5 (42) | 5 (47) | 21 |
| 8 | The Final Destination | 5 | 1 ($2.4M) | 2 ($1.3K) | 4 (29) | 3 (30) | 10 |
| 9 | All About Steve | 7 | 3 ($3.4M) | 4 ($1.6K) | 1 (8) | 1 (17) | 9 |
| 10 | Sorority Row | 8 | 2 ($2.5M) | 1 ($1K) | 3 (25) | 2 (24) | 8 |
| Box Office Power Rankings: September 25-27, 2009 | |||||||
| Box Office Ranks | Critics’ Ranks | ||||||
| Rank | Movie | Last Week | Gross | Per Theater | Rotten Tomatoes | Metacritic | Total |
| 1 | Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs | 1 | 10 ($25M) | 10 ($8K) | 9 (85) | 9 (66) | 38 |
| 2 | The Informant! | 2 | 7 ($6.6M) | 7 ($2.6K) | 8 (76) | 9 (66) | 31 |
| 3 | Surrogates | – | 9 ($14.9M) | 9 ($5.1K) | 4 (39) | 4 (45) | 26 |
| 4 | Tyler Perry’s I Can Do Bad All By Myself | 3 | 6 ($4.8M) | 5 ($2.2K) | 7 (64) | 6 (55) | 24 |
| 5 | Inglourious Basterds | 4 | 1 ($2.7M) | 2 ($1.4K) | 10 (88) | 10 (69) | 23 |
| 6 | Fame | – | 8 ($10M) | 8 ($3.2K) | 3 (29) | 3 (39) | 22 |
| 7 | 9 | 5 | 2 ($3M) | 3 ($1.5K) | 6 (56) | 7 (60) | 18 |
| 8 | Jennifer’s Body | 6 | 3 ($3.7M) | 1 ($1.3K) | 5 (42) | 5 (47) | 14 |
| 9 | Love Happens | 6 | 4 ($4.3M) | 6 ($2.3K) | 1 (17) | 2 (33) | 13 |
| 10 | Pandorum | – | 5 ($4.4M) | 4 ($1.8K) | 2 (28) | 1 (28) | 12 |
| Box Office Power Rankings: October 2-4, 2009 | |||||||
| Box Office Ranks | Critics’ Ranks | ||||||
| Rank | Movie | Last Week | Gross | Per Theater | Rotten Tomatoes | Metacritic | Total |
| 1 | Zombiela nd |
– | 10 ($24.7M) | 10 ($8.1K) | 9 (88) | 9 (73) | 38 |
| 2 | Toy Story/Toy Story 2 | – | 8 ($12.5M) | 9 ($7.2K) | 10 (100) | 10 (96) | 37 |
| 3 | Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs | 1 | 9 ($15.8M) | 8 ($5.3K) | 8 (85) | 7 (66) | 32 |
| 4 | Whip It | – | 5 ($4.7M) | 5 ($2.7K) | 7 (81) | 8 (67) | 25 |
| 5 | The Invention of Lying | – | 6 ($7M) | 6 ($4.1K) | 4 (56) | 4 (58) | 20 |
| 5 | Capitalism: A Love Story | – | 3 ($4.4M) | 7 ($4.6K) | 5 (74) | 5 (60) | 20 |
| 7 | The Informant! | 2 | 2 ($3.7M) | 3 ($1.5K) | 6 (76) | 7 (66) | 18 |
| 8 | Surrogates | 3 | 7 ($7.2M) | 4 ($2.5K) | 3 (39) | 3 (45) | 17 |
| 9 | Fame | 6 | 4 ($4.6M) | 2 ($1.5K) | 2 (29) | 2 (39) | 10 |
| 10 | Love Happens | 9 | 1 ($2.7M) | 1 ($1.4K) | 1 (17) | 1 (33) | 4 |
| Box Office Power Rankings: October 9-11, 2009 | |||||||
| Box Office Ranks | Critics’ Ranks | ||||||
| Rank | Movie | Last Week | Gross | Per Theater | Rotten Tomatoes | Metacritic | Total |
| 1 | Zombieland | 1 | 9 ($14.8M) | 8 ($4.9K) | 9 (88) | 9 (73) | 35 |
| 2 | Toy Story/Toy Story 2 | 2 | 6 ($7.8M) | 7 ($4.4K) | 10 (100) | 10 (96) | 33 |
| 2 | Paranormal Activity | – | 7 ($7.9M) | 10 ($49.4K) | 8 (86) | 8 (68) | 33 |
| 4 | Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs | 3 | 8 ($11.5M) | 6 ($3.9K) | 7 (85) | 6 (66) | 27 |
| 5 | Couples Retreat | – | 10 ($34.3M) | 9 ($11.4K) | 1 (12) | 1 (23) | 21 |
| 6 | Whip It | 4 | 3 ($2.8M) | 3 ($1.6K) | 6 (81) | 7 (67) | 19 |
| 7 | Capitalism: A Love Story | 5 | 2 ($2.6M) | 5 ($2.6K) | 5 (74) | 5 (60) | 17 |
| 8 | The Invention of Lying | 5 | 4 ($3.3M) | 4 ($1.9K) | 4 (56) | 4 (58) | 16 |
| 9 | Surrogates | 8 | 5 ($4.3M) | 2 ($1.4K) | 3 (39) | 3 (45) | 13 |
| 10 | Fame | 9 | 1 ($2.5M) | 1 ($0.8K) | 2 (29) | 2 (39) | 6 |
Methodology
Culture Snob’s Box Office Power Rankings balance box office and critical reception to create a better measure of a movie’s overall performance against its peers than gross receipts alone.
The weekly rankings cover the 10 top-grossing movies in the United States for the previous weekend. We assign equal weight to box office and critical opinion, with each having two components. The measures are: box-office gross, per-theater average, Rotten Tomatoes score, and Metacritic score.
Why those four? Box-office gross basically measures the number of people who saw a movie in a given weekend. Per-theater average corrects for blockbuster-wannabes that flood the market with prints, and gives limited-release movies a fighting chance. Rotten Tomatoes measures critical opinion in a binary way. And Metacritic gives a better sense of critics’ enthusiasm (or bile) for a movie.
For each of the four measures, the movies are ranked and assigned points (10 for the best performer, one for the worst). Finally, those points are added up, with a maximum score of 40 and a minimum score of four.
