Summer Movie Box Office 

Men in Black International was the most guessed movie to not be in the Top Ten, finishing in the 12th spot this summer, which at least made it a better pick then this summer’s biggest flop in Dark Phoenix, which was close behind in being picked often (though it was also consistently a lower-ranked choice when chosen)! Rocketman was also not an unpopular choice and did in fact finish 11th as well, which though close, still meant no points were awarded for the Elton John biopic. The inverse of Men in Black International proved to be John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, which was chosen often as well but consistently undervalued as no competitor could have guessed (or hoped, in this case) that it would finished as the fifth highest movie of the summer! James R. of 2 Fast 2 Curious is the only participant to even rank it higher then the 10th spot let alone outside of the Dark Horse picks, and even then he ranked it 9th. Admittedly John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum was also helped by the fact that other then the top four films this summer, no other made a ton of money since it finished in the fifth spot with less then $200 million at the box office, and made less then half of what number four made!

James R. of 2 Fast 2 Curious also has the distinction this year of being the only participant to guess all ten movies in the top ten! TEN FOR TEN! I will give both him and you a spoiler however, and say that he did not win this year unfortunately as it wasn’t his choices that were off, but the order in which he put them in. In fact no participant guessed fewer then eight of the top ten correctly.

These last few years we’ve seen a down to the wire race at the Summer Box Office, as somewhere within the Top Ten movies, a film looks to movie up the rankings and shift around the potential points to be won! Last year, that last weekend race included the 10th spot being decided on the Sunday of the long weekend! This year we saw a race for the 6th spot, though it proved less dramatic as the Summer Movie had already been decided! Still, as of Monday morning Fast & Furious presents: Hobbs & Shaw shifted from 7th to 6th, surpassing the Secret Life of Pets 2 in a battle of underperforming sequels! Though the shift in the standings wouldn’t have changed the winners point total, it did give the runner-up one less point overall.

Let’s get to our winner of the Summer Movie Wager for 2019! Once again, we have a first timer winner after having participated in this Extra Curricular activity since the start! He joins Sarah C. of Geraldo Triviera who won our first go around with 49 points in 2013, Patrick D. of The Bastards who was our second Wager winner with 56 points! The 2015 winner Alex B. at cinefilesreviews.com, who joined us and won it all with 51 points! Stephane de S. who won by less then half a million dollars, and ended up with 60 points in 2016! In 2017, that man that lost by half a million the year before, James C. of The Unusual Suspects won with 58 points! Then in 2018 it was Peter M. who rode the rising tide of a monster summer movie and won after six years of wagering, and a list that included six spot-on choices, for 86 points!

Congrats to our NEW winner of the Summer Movie Wager, the SEVENTH Summer Movie winner...

*drumroll*

Russel H. of Trivia Club, 63 points 
1) The Lion King (+13)
2) Toy Story 4 (+10)
3) Spider-Man: Far From Home (+10)
4) Secret Life of Pets 2 (+3)
5) Fast & Furious presents: Hobbs & Shaw (+7)
6) Aladdin (+5)
7) Men in Black International
8) Godzilla: King of the Monsters (+5)
9) Pokemon Detective Pikachu (+7)
10) John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (+3)
DH) Dark Phoenix
DH) Rocketman
DH) Annabelle Comes Home

Hey, that’s me! That is indeed two Extra Curricular games in a row for the guy who runs them. That’ll show people who want to enjoy these games alongside me! In all seriousness though, I’m excited to have won my first Summer Movie Wager, after having taken part since the first one in which I did not include myself from contention and lucky number year seven saw the movies move in my favor. And now if you don't mind, I'll just be talking about myself in third person to put the idea of distance between the participant of the game and the guy who runs it for Trivia Club. These 63 points are also the second highest winning score, since PETE! broke the game with an Avengers: Infinity War boosted 86 points last year, and this is also the second highest score for Russel H., whose 75 points in 2018 still stands as his personal best. This is also the first time that Russel H. got points from his ninth film choice as well, since our inaugural Summer Movie Wager in 2013. Guessing nine of the Top Ten for this past summer, the movie that was missing off of the winning list was Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, which had been a potential Dark Horse pick but was replaced at the last minute by Annabelle Comes Home (which finished 14th amoungst Summer Movies). Apologies to the runner-up, who I’ve now slipped past for two consecutive years.


Mark P. of the Cunning Stunts, 59 points
1) Toy Story 4 (+7)
2) Spider-Man: Far From Home (+7)
3) The Lion King (+5)
4) Aladdin (+10)
5) Men in Black International
6) Dark Phoenix
7) Fast & Furious presents: Hobbs & Shaw (+7)
8) The Secret Life of Pets 2 (+7)
9) Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (+10)
10) Pokémon Detective Pikachu (+5)
DH) John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (+1)
DH) Child's Play
DH) Dora and the Lost City of Gold

Finishing as runner-up this year, was multi-time Oscar Confidence Pool winner (who has also won a few Golden VHS in his time) Mark P. of the Cunning Stunts, who along with Russel H., is now the only other person to compete in all seven Summer Movie Wagers! After finishing in third in 2013, 2014 and 2018, this is Mark’s best finish, and is his second highest score after the 74 points scored last year (2018 broke a lot of high score marks). It was ultimately Mark P.’s Top 3 film order that changed his chances of winning, under-ranking The Lion King. Mark P. still guessed nine of the Top Ten however, and his seven thru ten spots were what kept him in contention, guessing the movie that Russel H. left out, Once Upon a Time… spot on! The number 10 movie of the summer, Godzilla: King of the Monsters was the one movie in the Top Ten unlisted by Mark P. 

John M. of Biscuts!/SPARTACUS, 57 points
1) The Lion King (+13)
2) Toy Story 4 (+10)
3) Spider-Man: Far From Home (+10)
4) Fast & Furious presents: Hobbs & Shaw (+5)
5) Annabelle Comes Home
6) Godzilla: King of the Monsters (+3)
7) Men in Black International
8) Pokémon Detective Pikachu (+10)
9) Aladdin (+3)
10) Secret Life of Pets 2 (+3)
DH) Dora
DH) The Hustle
DH) Booksmart

Getting the number three spot, by way of the spot-on ten point tie-breaker, was John M. of SPARTACUS (historically, at Cardinal Rule) and Biscuits! (recently, at Farside)! This is his first Summer Movie Wager since 2014, when he finished 4th with 48 points! He correctly guessed eight of the Top Ten films for this year’s wager, but correctly guessed not only the number one film but three other films as well, more then any other Summer Movie Wager participant for 2019! John M. also took the biggest swings with his Dark Horse choices as well, including the lowest-ranking box office for any pick, going to (the wonderful, and underseen, go see it) Booksmart which is 29th amongst summer movies as of Monday, September 3rd!


James C. of The Unusual Suspects, 57 points 
1) The Lion King (+13)
2) Toy Story 4 (+10)
3) Spider Man: Far From Home (+10)
4) Fast & Furious presents: Hobbes & Shaw (+5)
5) Aladdin (+7)
6) Pokémon Detective Pikachu (+5)
7) Rocketman
8) Men in Black International
9) The Secret Life of Pets 2 (+5)
10) Dark Phoenix
DH) Godzilla: King of the Monsters (+1)
DH) Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (+1)
DH) Shaft

With another strong finish against a tight field of films, James C. is competing in his fourth consecutive Summer Movie Wager, and though he chose one fewer film spot-on then John M. along with the number one film of the summer and thus finished fourth, James C. finished with just one fewer point then in 2017 when he won the Summer Movie Wager.


Johnny H. of Wavy Tapes, 55 points
1) The Lion King (+13)
2) Toy Story 4 (+10)
3) Spider-Man: Far From Home (+10)
4) Pokémon Detective Pikachu (+3)
5) Secret Life of Pets 2 (+5)
6) Aladdin (+5)
7) Godzilla: King of the Monsters (+3)
8) Fast & Furious presents: Hobbs & Shaw (+5)
9) Rocketman
10) Men in Black International
DH) Dark Phoenix
DH) Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (+1)
DH) Annabelle Comes Home

Johnny H. in his fourth Summer Movie Wager, having competed in both our first two and the last two Wagers, match his personal best placement of fifth from 2014, when he correctly guessed all ten films. In doing so Johnny H. got a personal best of three films spot on this summer. Also of note, though he guessed eight of the Top Ten (plus a Dark Horse) his 9th and 10th films finished 11th and 12th at the Summer Movie box office!


James R. of 2 Fast 2 Curious, 48 points
1) Toy Story 4 (+7)
2) The Lion King (+7)
3) Aladdin (+7)
4) Fast & Furious presents: Hobbs & Shaw (+5)
5) Pokémon Detective Pikachu (+3)
6) Secret Life of Pets 2 (+7)
7) Spider-Man: Far From Home (+3)
8) Godzilla: King of the Monsters (+5)
9) John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (+3)
10) Men in Black International
DH) Child's Play
DH) Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (+1)
DH) Dark Phoenix

In his fourth consecutive Summer Movie Wager, James R. became just the eighth person to correctly pick all ten of the films in the Top Ten of the Summer box office, but finishes in sixth because he’s also just the second person not to get any of those picks spot on, matching Sarah C. in 2014.


Dylan M. of the M. Night Shaym-Aliens, 44 points
1) Toy Story 4 (+7)
2) The Lion King (+7)
3) Spider-Man: Far From Home (+10)
4) The Secret Life of Pets 2 (+3)
5) Godzilla: King of the Monsters (+3)
6) Dark Phoenix
7) Aladdin (+3)
8) Men in Black International
9) Pokémon Detective Pikachu (+7)
10) Fast & Furious presents: Hobbs & Shaw (+3)
DH) Rocketman
DH) Yesterday
DH) Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (+1)

Making his fourth consecutive appearance in the Summer Movie Wager, Dylan M. was unable to improve on his personal best fourth place in 2017 or 62 points in 2018, with only Spider-Man: Far From Home in third as a spot-on top ten prediction!

Matthew S. of Smartly Pretty, 38 points
1) Spider-Man: Far From Home (+5)
2) The Lion King (+7)
3) Toy Story 4 (+7)
4) Pokémon Detective Pikachu (+3)
5) Fast & Furious presents: Hobbs & Shaw (+7)
6) Men In Black International
7) Godzilla: King of the Monsters (+3)
8) Rocketman
9) Aladdin (+3)
10) John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (+3)
DH) Child's Play
DH) Annabelle Comes Home
DH) Yesterday

Making his first appearance in the Summer Movie Wager, is Saturday Night Live Fantasy League stalwart and notable multi-time multi-team Golden VHS Champ, Matthew S. who in his first Summer Movie Wager finds himself in eighth after being unable to nab a spot-on placement for any of the eight films that he correctly predicted would be in the Top Ten!