February was a rough month in our Box Office Pick’em contest, simply because we were faced with a ton of mediocre to crappy movies. Still, someone came out on top.
Aaron was the overwhelming favorite in the February draft poll, and he ended up beating Luke for a second straight monthly win.
Note: You’ll notice a new section entitled Notable Carry-Over Films. These are movies that are still producing sizable box office returns from previous months.
Aaron’s February Roster
- ‘A Good Day to Die Hard’
- ‘Warm Bodies‘
- ‘Side Effects’
- ‘Snitch‘
- ‘Escape from Planet Earth’
- ‘A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III’
Aaron’s Notable Carry-Over Films
‘Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters’ and ‘Zero Dark Thirty’
Aaron’s Highlights
Despite a monstrous budget ($92 million) and the fact that it’s a terrible movie, ‘A Good Day to Die Hard’ easily rose above the $100 million mark in February and has soared upwards of $186 million worldwide.
‘Warm Bodies’ outperformed its $30 million budget by leaps and bounds, raking in over $82 million.
The wild card in this venture was the kiddie movie ‘Escape from Planet Earth’. Aaron wasn’t too sure that this movie would meet its $40 million budget. But with the complete lack of anything else considered family-friendly at theaters since the beginning of the year, ‘Escape’ recouped most of its budget in a very short time, taking in $36 million.
‘Hansel & Gretel’ and ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ produced some strong returns that helped Aaron make up the deficits he ran with ‘Snitch and ‘Side Effects’. ‘Hansel’ pulled in $76 million in the month of February, while ‘ZDT’ added another $21 million to its burgeoning total.
Aaron’s Lowlights
Both ‘Snitch’ and ‘Side Effects’ failed to reach their budget totals. There’s still some hope for ‘Snitch’ because it was a late-in-the-month release, but ‘Side Effects’ is all but done at the box office.
Aaron’s February Net Total: $228,989,501
Luke’s February Roster
- ‘Identity Thief‘
- ‘Safe Haven’
- ‘Dark Skies’
- ‘Beautiful Creatures’
- ‘Stand Up Guys’
- ‘Sound City’
Luke’s Notable Carry-Over Films
‘Gangster Squad’, ‘Mama’, ‘Movie 43’ and ‘Quartet’
Luke’s Highlights
It turns out that many of Luke’s January picks had great legs going into February. ‘Mama’ scared up another $40 million, ‘Gangster Squad’ cashed in $19 million, and ‘Quartet’ continues to do well with another $15 million added to its total.
‘Identity Thief’ was Luke’s big gainer. With a budget of $35 million, the comedy almost reached the coveted $100 million mark in one month.
‘Safe Haven’ proved to be another Nicholas Sparks box office success. Luke cashed in on the schmaltzy tale of love and stuff, which took in $50 million on a $28 million budget.
Luke’s Lowlights
‘Beautiful Creatures’ was a flop. Many anticipated it to do big business with the ‘Twilight’ crowd, but nothing like that materialized. Its whopping $60 million budget was met with a lukewarm $31 million February take.
Luke’s February Net Total: $169,434,057
