There will definitely be more fakes than usual for apocalypto. I'm going with 150 for Apocalypto. 100-110 for Blood Diamond, 80 for The Holiday, and with Minors' grade, 100-120.

Apocalypto - 129 (21), +35 (+9), B- (down from B)
Blood Diamond - 58 (13), +14 (+1), B+ (up from B)
The Holiday - 51 (9), +15 (+2), B-
Unaccompanied Minors - 40 (4), +18 (+3), C- (up from D+)

Yahoo seems to be working fine today without clogging.

Man, I really long for Yahoo to start working every weekend again. Santa, are you listening?

Apocalypto - 133 (24), +4 (+3), B-
Blood Diamond - 60 (15), +2 (+2), B+
The Holiday - 54 (10), +3 (+1), B-
Unaccompanied Minors - 41 (5), +1 (+1), C-

Apocalypto seems to be doing pretty well so far, no?

Yes, it has. It's up to 28 written reviews and the pace has been steady. It will likely have the highest ratio of the four, but Mel's latest effort definitely isn't a bomb.

Apocalypto is now on the home page, which explains the quicker pace in the last hour.

Apocalypto - 213 (43), +80 (+19), B-
Blood Diamond - 89 (16), +29 (+1), B+
The Holiday - 71 (10), +17 (+0), B-
Unaccompanied Minors - 59 (5), +18 (+0), C (up from C-)

Apocalypto - 273 (53), +60 (+10), B-
Blood Diamond - 102 (19), +13 (+3), B+
The Holiday - 84 (11), +13 (+1), B-
Unaccompanied Minors - 73 (7), +14 (+2), C

You guys are right that the mel bashers/lovers will vote even if they havnt seen the film.crowd reports and written reviews will be a good indicator.

Apocalypto - 297 (58), +24 (+5), B-
Blood Diamond - 110 (20), +8 (+1), B+
The Holiday - 91 (12), +7 (+1), B-
Unaccompanied Minors - 81 (7), +8 (+0), C

are these reviews for Apocalypto not ridiculously high or is it me?

its only 4:50 here on the east coast....still have all the nighttime showtimes to kickoff....then the west coast....

Right now nothing is looking like it's escaping above the teens, but going in, nothing looked like it was escaping the teen millions anyway.

NF $14,000,001 is all im looking for from Mel this weekend!

since i rarely post here....Merry Xmas!

thanks for all the info you provide

Only notable thing on this update was Apocalypto's 10 written reviews.

Apocalypto - 299 (68), +2 (+10), B-
Blood Diamond - 112 (21), +2 (+1), B+
The Holiday - 92 (13), +1 (+1), B-
Unaccompanied Minors - 82 (8), +1 (+1), C

BD, Holiday, and UM are all getting similar (low) counts. Does it look like they are all "under 10 mil" for the weekend?

Apocalypto - 386 (86), +87 (+18), B-
Blood Diamond - 149 (22), +37 (+1), B+
The Holiday - 121 (14), +29 (+1), B-
Unaccompanied Minors - 122 (10), +40 (+2), D+ (down from C)

Apocalypto should be able to get $5m even with a 150 ratio. Look like $3-4m for Blood Diamond as the reviews will pick up at night. With a low ratio, The Holiday is looking at a similar range too. Unaccompanied Minors won't get much night boost, and with the terrible grade, probably won't reach $2m.

I think it was a mistake to open so many films in mid December. Sure they will have good legs - but its a mistake as alot of people (especially women) are busy shopping, preparing for Christmas and going to the plethora of christmas and year end parties.

I think Apocalypto & Blood Diamond were doing it primarily for awards consideration. Holiday was done to try to "redo" the success with Something's Gotta Give (same release date, approximately same number of theaters, same type marketing, etc.).

If people knew now that The Departed would be an awards beast, we likely would've seen the release dates for Blood Diamond and The Departed flip-flopped. Without so much competition, and with a release in more theaters, Blood Diamond could've won a Fall weekend. As it is now, it is competing with a chick-flick and a male-flick. Stuck in the middle and likely to be #2 at best.

Hindsight is always 20/20 though

Apocalypto - 457 (96), +71 (+10), B-
Blood Diamond - 178 (25), +29 (+3), B+
The Holiday - 149 (15), +28 (+1), B-
Unaccompanied Minors - 158 (10), +26 (+0), C- (up from D+)

Apocalypto - 500 (115), +43 (+19), B-
Blood Diamond - 189 (28), +11(+3), B+
The Holiday - 168 (19), +19 (+4), B-
Unaccompanied Minors - 170 (11), +12 (+1), C-

APOCL doing much better review-wise than the rest of them, even when its not on the front page (i.e....now)

Apocalypto - 509 (125), +9 (+10), B (up from B-)
Blood Diamond - 193 (29), +4 (+1), B+
The Holiday - 170 (21), +2 (+2), B-
Unaccompanied Minors - 173 (11), +3 (+0), C-

hehe yeah thats exactly what they were trying to do with Blood Diamond - atleast its got a good grade on yahoo. And you are correct - its only rational that The Holiday is released at a similar time to SGG and WWW.

As for Departed - I'm glad it came out in October. The beauty of it all is that it was positioned as a popular mainstream release than oscar bait and it worked out in its favour!!

Apocalypto - 604 (137), +95 (+12), B (up from B-)
Blood Diamond - 229 (34), +36 (+5), B+
The Holiday - 212 (26), +42 (+5), B (up from B-)
Unaccompanied Minors - 198 (15), +25 (+4), C-