1993 Summer Box Office Blockbuster Contest Results

Just before the beginning of the summer, I announced a contest for picking the grosses of several promising (well, before the summer started) films. They were

• "Cliffhanger"
• "The Firm"
• "Jurassic Park"
• "Last Action Hero"
• "Made In America"
• "Super Mario Brothers"

The contestants were asked to predict a North American gross figure for each of these films. They were also asked to predict the film not on that list that would have the largest North American gross.

I now have the results, based on figures from the first weekly Variety that came out after the Labor Day weekend. (One note - "Super Mario Brothers" was no longer included in Variety's gross list, so I used the figure from a couple of weeks earlier.) The grosses of the above films (rounded to the nearest million) were

• "Cliffhanger" $83
• "The Firm" $150
• "Jurassic Park" $317
• "Last Action Hero" $50
• "Made In America" $45
• "Super Mario Brothers" $21

Contestants received 15 points for being closest to the actual gross, 14 points for being second closest, and so on. In case of ties, all tieing parties received the points, but those below the tied players were treated as if there were no tie. (So, if the first and second contestants were tied, they got 15 points each, and the third contestant got 13.) Contestants received 10 extra points for correctly naming the "sleeper" film.

14 contestants entered. Below are their names, and their point totals.

1. Brian R. Boisvert 78
2. Paul Michals 61
3. James Kewageshig 61
4. Jeffrey D. Jonsson 58
5. Jeff Williamson 57
6. Joseph A. Revitte 54
7. Ben S. 53
8. Ife Hsu 52
9. Bora Lee 52
10. Per Laursen 51
11. Ericka Perdew 51
12. Eric Robinette 49
13. Anurag Junej 44
14. David Mousley 41

Paul Michals leaped into a tie for second place by correctly identifying "The Fugitive". Jeff Williamson was the only other contestant to correctly identify that film.

A few other details - a special prize for most accurate prediction goes to Jeffrey D. Jonsson, who correctly predicted that "Made In America" would make $45 million. A runner up to that prize was Ife Hsu, who came within one million of the gross of "Cliffhanger".

Mr. Boisvert had the most accurate prediction on "Jurassic Park" - at a mere $117 million too low! Clearly, this film outperformed a lot of people's expectations.

Despite having the second lowest gross on the list, the producers of "Made In America" are already talking about a sequel. Nobody's talking about a sequel to "Last Action Hero" or "Super Mario Brothers". Nothing short of an ironclad contractual obligation, and probably not that, could stop a "Jurassic Park" sequel, though likely without Steven Spielberg. (Anyone remember "Jaws 2"?) While I doubt if "Cliffhanger" will get a sequel, it apparently has revitalized Sylvester Stallone's career. He'll be on our screens in a matter of weeks in "Demolition Man", and will be making a couple more large action films in the upcoming year.

Variety predicts that, in the end, "Last Action Hero" will only cost its studio a mere $20 million, after playing everywhere overseas, being released on videocassette, playing on TV, and so forth. Nobody likes losing $20 million, but initial predictions were much worse.

Thanks to all who participated.

Back to the film contest page.