Blog : TV Worth Watching

"Star Trek" TVWW Contest Prizes Boldly Go To Two Different Winners

Okay, I'm proud of myself on this one. Before throwing it open to guesses from readers, I estimated the opening-weekend box office for the new Star Trek movie at $80 million. The final tally? $79.2 million.

But close, under my own rules, means guessing closest without going over. That means one of you won instead. And, since the final numbers included a Thursday-night showing as well, I figured it would only be fair to subtract that Thursday figure and also present an award to the reader closest to THAT figure.

Hey... when the prizes are this tacky and tiny, I can afford to be generous...

Closest to the overall $79.2 million figure, which includes the Thursday tally, was Danny, who guessed $79 million. GREAT guess!

Excluding the Thursday screenings, the opening-weekend Star Trek total box-office was $75.2 million. Poor Lance R, at $75.8 million, just barely overshot. So the winner, according to my Price Is Right rules, is Neil, who offered up a guess of $71 million, the nearest amount that didn't go over. And he was the last of 41 readers to chime in, so, in his case, it paid to wait.

But it didn't pay much -- a note pad here, a key chain there. I'll contact both of you privately to get your home addresses and which prize you're claiming. In case you both want the same thing, Danny gets first pick. My game. My rules. No fighting. I'll pull this website over if I have to.

Thanks to everyone who participated -- this contest drew the highest entries of any of my other TV-to-movie guess-the-gross games. And for the record, here's how I stand on all the predictions to date. (If I could remove The X-Files from the mix, I'd be impressed with myself.)

MADE-FROM-TV MOVIE
MY PREDICTION / ACTUAL OPENING-WEEKEND GROSS

Sex and the City, 2008
$55 million / $56.8 million

Get Smart, 2008
$40 million / $38.7 million

X-Files: I Want to Believe, 2008
$50 million / $10.2 million (whoops)

Star Trek, 2009
$80 million / $79.2 million

So three out of four, I did great.

As for the fourth -- would you believe? Missed it by THAT much.

2 Comments

Eddy said:

Wait a minute! You're only 1 for 4 . . . by your own (and universally accepted TPiR) rules you have to be close WITHOUT going over.

You were over on everything except Sex and the City.

(I know, I know. But in this case, just for me, I'm looking at how close I came, period, and estimating popularity in my guise as a TV critic.

I already HAVE the prizes. Geez. Tough crowd. -- David B.)

Comment posted on May 12, 2009 12:38 PM

Bart said:

Hi David:

I would have won if I new it was for the entire US. I only figured the Continental United States, so Hawaii and Alaska threw off my numbers. I yearn for that head band.

Bart

(Dear Mart: So sorry, but that headband has been claimed. Have your people contact my people, and I'll try to ease the pain. -- David B.)

Comment posted on May 13, 2009 12:36 AM

Behind David in the picture is the first TV owned by his father, Virgil Bianculli, a 1946 Raytheon. (The TV, not his father. His father was a 1923 Italian.)

David Bianculli has been a TV critic since 1975, including a 14-year stint at the New York Daily News, and sees no reason to stop now. Currently, he's TV critic for NPR's Fresh Air, occasional substitute host for that show's Terry Gross, and teaches TV and film history at New Jersey's Rowan University. His most recent book is 2009's Dangerously Funny: The Uncensored Story of 'The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour,' and he's at work on another.

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