Wicked: For Good Conjured Up the Biggest Opening Weekend of MFL Season 5
This is the scoring recap for Week 9 of Vulture’s Movies Fantasy League. If you want to compete for pride and prizes against more than 19,000 other film buffs, there’s still time to join: Visit the league hub for information on how to play, and/or click the button below to submit an entry.
I’ve heard it said that movies come into our lives for a reason, and for the 3,945 people who selected Wicked: For Good, this was the weekend they were waiting for. The follow-up to last year’s Wicked improved upon its predecessor’s numbers with a $150 million weekend, making it the biggest opening of the MFL season so far. The first film opened to $120, though that movie also had to contend with Gladiator II’s arrival on screens. This year, the field cleared the deck for For Good, lest they be walloped. Wicked picked up 150 base points, plus it cleared six bonus thresholds (totalling 90 points) and got the 20-point bump for winning the weekend. That’s a 260-point windfall for those Wicked drafters who committed $45 to pick the film.
Elsewhere in the box-office realm, there isn’t much to talk about. Now You See Me, Now You Don’t and The Running Man cleared the $25 million threshold to each pick up ten bonus points, while Black Phone 2 crossed the $75 mark for an extra 15 points. Nuremberg climbed up to $11 million, which is good news for Sony Pictures Classics and also dads. Sisu: Road to Revenge debuted with $2 million, good news for the 158 of you who selected it.
Last week’s nominations for the AARP Movies for Grownups Awards dropped a heap of awards points onto the league, breaking the seal for myriad movies that got their first points of the season. One Battle After Another led the field with eight nominations (good for 45 points), but the second-most nominations went to Nuremberg (what did I just say about dads?), whose four nominations added up to 20 points. Sinners and House of Dynamite also each picked up 20 points, and Train Dreams, Jay Kelly, and Sentimental Value each got 15.
Among the many movies that picked up their first points of the season include Marty Supreme, Avatar: Fire and Ash, Cover-Up, Weapons, Wake Up Dead Man, and Goodbye June.
Full list of AARP Movies for Grownups nominations points:
• 45 points: One Battle After Another
• 20 points: A House of Dynamite; Nuremberg; Sinners
• 15 points: Jay Kelly; Sentimental Value; Train Dreams
• 10 points: Eleanor the Great; Hamnet; Is This Thing On?; Marty Supreme; Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere
• 5 points: After the Hunt; Avatar: Fire and Ash; Blue Moon; Cover-Up; Dead Man’s Wire; Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale; Frankenstein; Goodbye June; Highest 2 Lowest; It Was Just an Accident; The Lost Bus; No Other Choice; Nouvelle Vague; A Private Life; Rental Family; The Secret Agent; The Smashing Machine; Wake Up Dead Man; Weapons
You can visit the MFL landing page to see the full leaderboard — and join our Discord server for additional data about each movie in the MFL, plus much more.
Release Calendar
Zootopia 2: November 26
Eternity: November 26
The Secret Agent: November 26
Hamnet: November 28
Left-Handed Girl: November 28
The Thing With Feathers: November 28
Oh. What. Fun: December 3
Five Nights at Freddy’s 2: December 5
Jay Kelly: December 5
A Private Life: December 5
Upcoming Awards
Gotham Awards: December 1
New York Film Critics Circle announcement: December 2
Film Independent Spirit Awards nominations: December 3
Critics Choice Awards nominations: December 5
Golden Globe nominations: December 8
Oscar shortlists: December 16
Questions? Feedback? Can’t find your team or mini-league on the leaderboard? Drop us a line at moviesleague@vulture.com.
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