Oh and my current prediction is:

Opening weekend - $77 million

Total gross - $209 million

75/210

Oh so if the weekend sees 60 million and less, you would forfeit your money?
Never underestimate the nuttyness of Cruise to drive bad press for the film

I remember when Cruise's "nuttyness" caused War of the Worlds to gross over $230 million total. Now that's just terrible!

Seriously, though, we have no idea how it'll affect box-office. How can you say, "never underestimate" like it's happened before? If you bring up War of the Worlds, which made more than enough to be considered a blockbuster, that's stupid.

And didnt more than half the predictors here said it would make 300 million? Someone bump the thread up

Okay? So, a bunch of people are predicting POTC2 to make $500+ million total. If it makes $300 million, is it going to be considered a disappointment? They're called "predictions" for a reason.

$230+ million is nothing to cry about, and it certainly doesn't prove that Cruise's "nuttyness" will hurt M:I-3.

Opening: 66.0
Total: 169.2 (2.56)

I said in this forum, not other sites where people dont know shit. And who besides BJ here said POTC2 will make 500 million, besides the BJ math is written by me . Like I said you can bump up the prediction thread for WOTW and it would be considered a disappointment because more than half of people said 300 million and there was also a bunch of 250 million prediction. Saying WOTW didnt meet people's expectation is like saying Kong made exactly what people are expecting which isnt true at all. Im knitting, spinning spinning spinnning dizzy.

There's a club with about seven or eight people who are actually expecting POTC2 to make $500 million. On top of that, there's more who are predicting $400+ million total. I think expectations are high, and if it's considered a disappointment for making "only" $300 million total, I'll laugh.

It didn't meet some people's expectations. But, so what? Does that automatically make a film that made $230 million a disappointment? It's Tom Cruise's highest grossing film yet. And, how do you know Tom Cruise is to blame, exactly? You don't. It's a theory.

You neglect to mention that it wasnt just riding on Cruise's name but also Spielberg and it being based on a classic like Kong was. Of course it was going to be his highest with Spielberg on board with the exception of minority report

Yet, it had about the same gross as Signs despite much more hype and special effects. It was also behind MIB and far behind ID4.

BTW, don't even consider 300m for POTC 2; it simply won't happen.

yeah it'll be lucky to top $280m.

In 10 days!

No wait, it will easily hit 300m after the second weekend.

Hey, if you all want to consider War of the Worlds a disappointment, by all means, go right ahead.

But, as to why it "disappointed," I don't think there's a single proof that Cruise's antics were responsible for War of the Worlds "only" making $230 million total. If M:I-3 makes less than $150 million total, you might have a point.

I don't know about anyone else, but I could really care less about Tom Cruise in this role. I thnk he's much better in low-key, less "I Am God" roles like Jerry Maguire, but...

I'm pumped to see this because of J.J. Abrams.

Yeah...JJ Abhrams. Like Joel Schumacer he can be unpredictable, like the horrible Batman & Robin or the complete opposite end of his movie Flatliner which was underated. JJ Abrams was also supposed to pen Superman Returns except he wanted Superman to do karate moves like the Matrix movie and he also wanted Superman to be a prodigal son type hero like the Punisher and Batman. My other problem with Abrams is he relies too much on flashbacks and Im guessing MI3 scene will end up like this

"Where did you learn to shoot like this Ethan?"
<Ethan flashback 101 where he arrives at a paintball shooting gallery>

war woulda gotten 250 if the slump hadnt occured.

it wasn't the slump. it was the movie.

Just because there's an open market doesn't mean War of the Worlds was a lock for $300+ million total.

The slump can't be blamed for why Sith only did $380 m, Madagascar did $180 m +, and Longest Yard did $150 m +...

$250 m wasn't a lock, considering the last Spielberg/Cruise collaboration was a "lock" for $250 m pre summer, but then ended up doing half of that. Even $200 m wasn't a lock for it...

The difference between $234 million and $250 million is not big enough to be disappointed. It still was the second biggest film of the summer, even if it didn't reach some overly-hyped expectations. That's how I see it.

War of the Worlds made $234 million, BKB.

pirates 2 is the summer only film that is a lock for 250 million pre-may. at this point ill say mi3 is a lock for 200 million...though i really havent seen many tvb ads. n joke, ive seen more trailrrs for poseidon then mi3 on tv.