Fantasy Box Office: Rules and How to Play

[JJ-8]

the box office theory - forums : Fantasy Box Office Game

 

About the Game

 

See below for information

• Information Sources (this post)
• About the Game (this post)
• History of the Game (2nd post)
• Rules of the Game (3rd post) - the nitty gritty ... the first post explains the game.
• This forum and threads - how we operate now. (4th post in this thread)

 

Information Sources

• Box Office Mojo - Main source of our data including final budgets

  • if BOM does not supply a final budget then we will use the estimated budget as per the game

• The Numbers - Movie Site - is used sometimes as an early source of unknown budgets

• Wikipedia - yeah not a great source but some of our early budgets are sourced here.

• This site - as a last resort, if no information can be sourced

 

About the Game

Welcome to Box Office Theory's very own Fantasy Box Office Game. The game is played on a very simple premise, you are an investor (ie. studio) who invests money in the production of movies. As such you would get a return on this investment. We base the game on the real life box office using the domestic numbers released on a weekly basis. We also base the budgets on the real life information or the best guess at the budget for said movie.

To simplify the game, a budget is set down to develop a movie. This is set at least 1 month in advance prior to release of the film and then investors can choose to "invest" $ into the film prior to release. Investors invest in lots of 10% into films to a maximum of 100% for any investor. To give investors a larger range films typically have 200% total available for investment and blockbusters films will contain more (300%). Once a film is released, investors then receive the earnings for that film which then that money can then in turn be spent on further films. To allow for easier play investors begin with a set amount of dollars (as noted in the rules below).

As already noted, all $ are based upon the US Box Office Data (Domestic Box Office). All this information is taken from Box Office Mojo which tracks this information. In particular we utilise the budgets on BOM (budgets are revised at release).

The Game is administered by Jajang (Thanks goes out to Doctor Who, CJohn & ASCS1312 as previous administrators of the game). The results are posted in this forum on weekly basis and the investments list for each month is posted here also. I (Jajang) ran the game for 6 years from 2006 to 2012, and after a 3 year hiatus have returned to bring the game back to life!

If you have any questions about the game, feel free to post in the official discussion thread in this forum.

 

A new thread will be created on a Monthly Basis.  Initially this thread will be for players to invest in films that a due for release during that Month.  I will only list films that are going Wide during that month (or expected to expand to wide in a coming month).  Investors are also able to invest in Limited release films also but must supply a budget at the time they invest and the source they got it from (it must be a reputable  source).  Results from that month will also be posted in the same thread. 

The following posts detail the history of the game and the current rules.

[JJ-8]

History of the Game

The Fantasy Box Office Game first began as a joint idea between Geekfreek and Sheabert, 2 users who lived on Box Office Mojo's now defunct forums. It was born out of the idea of being able to invest in films and get return from those films, but base on the real life numbers (like a normal studio would). During December 2005 when the idea was first being discussed it was decided that a target of starting sometime early in 2006 would suffice. Eventually a set of rules was set down to control the game. Initially Geekfreek was the run the game with Sheaberts industry knowledge, especially on budgets would be used to help setup the game.

Sign-up for the first official game opened in January 2006. As many as 30 players signed up during this period though ultimately, only 15 players would play during the first year. The first official weekend for the game was 3rd to 5th February 2006. It was jointly led by Zooter and Sheabert. At an early point in the game it was realised that a website was needed to track the numbers. This was eventually developed by Jajang after 5 weeks of play. This would be eventually developed in the full website we know and use today. About midway through the first year, Jajang took over administration of the game and administered it ever since.

The investor who earnt the most in the 2006 was townzy and he would also take out the honours of the overall winner for the year. Billybobwashere earnt and won the 2007 game. In a grandstand finish, Alfred pipped Radier Gummi for earnings but couldn't stop Radier from winning the overall game in 2008. 2009 belonged Alfred as he easily dominated the year. In 2010 we had our closest finish ever in the game, with the top 3 players being seperated by less than 100m and the top 2 players a mere 200k, Townzy held on from the strong finishing Radier Gummi to win the earnings while radier took out the overall winner yet again.

In 2011 the game has struggled a little sadly, especially when Box Office Mojo shut down it's forums. Tracking however continued with the final results for 2011 showed Townzy easily earning the most. However it was Radier Gummi who would take the overall win. The game was now in revival mode as we headed into 2012 but due circumstances behind his control Jajang the admin became MIA. ASCS1312 began to adminster the game for a time but it eventually died out during the later months of 2012. As yet we don't have any final results (if ever do) from 2012. CJohn has now taken the reigns to reignite the game that has been well loved by many over the year. Since both myself (Jajang) and CJohn are now moderators on this wonderful forum, Doctor Who now administrates the game. (I'll continue to keep these posts updated as the original owner of the game) The 2013 / 2014 game here on BOT and the home we have (we have a forum now... yah!) here, should help promote the game better and onto the future.  Since  near the end of 2014 the game now became defunct.  I am now reviving the game with a target to start up in 2016.

[JJ-8]

Fantasy Box Office Game Rules

Official Times

• The time in which all day changes occurs is at Eastern Standard Time (US/Canada) (GMT - 5 hours) Not midnight your local time, but midnight for the East Coast of USA. If you're choosing to invest in a movie being released in exactly one month, make sure the date is as per this. And to be clear, Daylight savings is never applied for this game.
• I should also note that movies will be available from 7pm the day before (1 month in advance of release) and not be available from 7pm the day before.  This change is due to the sneaks now occurring instead of midnights.

 

The Winner

• The Game is run over a full year.
• The Winner is announced normally Late February / Early March of the following year once all results are tallied from the December movies.
• Various minor awards are given out including:
  • Return On Investment (% Gain / movie - Average)
  • Best Investor ($ Earnt per % spent as a whole)
  • Company Value (Bank Account - Final figure)
  • Highest Weekend (Earnt in a single weekend)
  • Revenue (Total Earnings for the year)
• Overall Winner is calculated using the above awards.  It is known as "The Geekfreek Award" in honor of the original Game Admin from 2006 when the game first started on BOM.

 

Bank Accounts

• Each player will have a Bank Account with which they can spend money to invest in movies.
• Each player will be given starting dollars when they join to begin investing. The value is adjusted each year as appropriate.
• Start dollars (2017) = 80m

 

• To invest in a movie, you must have the amount you are investing available in your bank account at the time the investment is made.
• All the money you earn from your investments will be put into your bank account for you to spend further.
• If you no longer have enough money to continue with the game, you can claim bankruptcy and your account will automatically be reset and you will start all over with the Current Start Dollars in your bank account. (all previous investments no longer count)
   

Movies (General)

• Only a film’s PRODUCTION BUDGET will be used for this game.
• Only a film’s DOMESTIC GROSS will be used for this game.
• The film's release date will be as per the current US Domestic Release dates (first date whether it's limited or wide) as listed on Box office Mojo.
• Any film that is due for release in the US can be invested in (including limited release films).
• You may only invest in a movie 1 FULL month before its release date. The date MUST be exact accordance to the current calendar date. For example, if it February 28, you can only invest in films being released on or before March 28. You must wait until March 1 to invest in films being released on March 29, 30 and 31.

 

Movie Budgets

• Any unknown budgets will be estimated. If no official budget is ever released, the estimate will stand as fact. If the official budget is released at a later time, that will be used instead of the estimate. Any budget changes are final and the player will have to accept them accordingly. The following will used for budgets of unknown movies which no details are available:
  • Action / Thriller = 150m (Big Budget) / 75m (Off Season)
  • Animation (CGI) = 150m (Big Budget) / 100m (Off Season)
  • Animation (2D) = 75m
  • Science Fiction / Fantasy / Comic Book = 175m (Big Budget) / 90m (Off Season)
  • Indie Films = 30m
  • Horror = 20m
  • Comedy = 100m (Big Budget) / 50m (Off Season)

 

• If and when BOM releases a budget, that budget will become fact except for the following:
  • When BOM's Budget (BB) > the Game Budget (GB) + 20m then the following applies :
  • New GB = BB - ROUNDED(((BB-GB-20)/BB)*(BB-GB-20))

 

Investment Rules

• Players can choose to only invest in part or all of a films budget. Players can invest in 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, 90%, 100% of the budget.  I will also allow investments of 25% and 75%. 
• Players will receive the % of the earnings from the film based upon which % invested in the film. Eg. invested 20%, you will receive 20% of the earnings. 
• You cannot invest in the same film for than a total of more than 100%. (If you invest 100% of the film’s budget, you can not invest in the film a second time.)
• The max % available (ABSOLUTE) for ALL films will be 300%.
• If no investment (ie. no one has invested) is made in the first 24 hours then a film will only have 200% available thereafter.
• If no investment is made by 2 weeks prior to Release, then max investment will reduce to 100% and the budget is then 75% of the original/final budget.
• If no investment is made by 1 week prior to Release, then the FINAL budget will be 50% of the original/final budget. 
• If an investment is made in first 24 hours, but total investments are less than 200% then only films which I have IDENTIFIED prior to being available as films which keep 300% keep the 300% max.  ALL other films will reduce to 200% max automatically.
• If more than 200% investments are made in the first 24 hours, the max % available will remain at 300%.
• If more than 300% investments are made in the first 12 hours, the following will apply:
  • Each player will automatically receive a pro rated % based upon the number of investments.  This is calculated as:
    • New max % per player (for this calculation and u will understand in a minute) = 300 / # of investors in film
    • eg. If you original invested 80% and 6 players in total invested you would 80% of 60 or 48% of the film.
  • Now assuming we have investments less than 100% for each investor, a Bidding process will be kicked off by posting your offer on the additional % you missed out on and the amount you are willing to pay.  Remember you can only go back up to the original % invested in.  The best offers will get the % and if there is any left over it will be returned to the game.  To make this clear, I will only accept your first post and you cannot edit it (I am admin here so i can see your edits cheaters!)
    • eg. the following investments are made in the first 12 hours for a 200m budgeted film: (which means 2m/%)
    • Invest 1 = 100%; Invest 2 = 80%; Invest 3 = 40%; Invest 4 = 50%; Invest 5 = 100%
    • I review sometime later in the day and note investment total of 370%.
    • Total Investers in film = 5 so Investment max is 60%.
    • Each investor now will get : Invest 1 = 60%; Invest 2 = 48%; Invest 3 = 24%; Invest 4 = 30%; Invest 5 = 60%
    • A total of 222% is invested in the film leaving a further 78% for investment in the film.
    • BID WAR is started and the following bids are posted:
      • Investor 1 = +40% ~ 120m (3m/%)
      • Investor 3 = +16% ~ 50m (3.125m/%)
      • Investor 5 = +40% ~ 130m (3.25m/%)
      • No other bids are made (i put a 24 hour limit on the bidding process)
    • which means, Investor 5 gets 40% (as the highest bidder) for 130m and Investor 3 gets 16% for 50m and then Investor as the lowest bidder gets the remaining 22% for 66m.
    • overall this means the new breakdown is:
      • Investor 1 = 82% (186m); Investor 2 = 48% (96m); Investor 3 = 40% (98m); Investor 4 = 30% (60m); Investor 5 = 100% (250m)
    • REMEMBER IF NO-ONE BIDS OR ONLY BIDS ON PART OF THE REMAINING, WHATEVER REMAINS AFTER 24 HOURS IS RETURNED TO THE GAME FOR NORMAL INVESTMENTS. AND IT WILL BE BEST IN BEST DRESSED AT THAT POINT.
• A film is released irrelevant of how much % is invested in total even if only 20% was invested, the film is still released.
• If you have chosen to invest and decide to cancel ALL or part of your investment (keeping within the normal rules above), the following WILL apply:
  • > 2 Weeks prior to release - 100% of the cancelled amount is returned
  • > 1 Week prior to release - 50% of the cancelled amount is returned
  • < 1 Week prior to release - Nothing will be returned at this point so you should just keep your investment.
• You can also choose to sell all or part of your investment (following the same rules as above for investments)
  • Once the movie is released you cannot sell your investment
  • The Sale can be in the form of money or swapping for other investments.
  • The amount is up to you - there are no limits and only need to be agreed between all parties involved.
  • Sales involving money will count towards your earnings for the year.
  • If at time of release an on-sold investment has a budget change, then this change will be reflected in the current owners budget. eg. Investor B bought the movie investment worth 40m of investor A for 60m. The budget then increased to 50m. Investor B's final budget equals 70m as a result because investor B paid a premium of 20m to investor A for the investment

 

Investment Restrictions (applies as you invest more %)

• Your ability to invest is restricted as you invest more in movies over the year. This will be controlled by the total % of films in "Wide Release".
• A film is consider to be in "Wide Release" when the investment is in > 600 theatres.
  • eg. you have invested 50% in a film which is in 3100 theatres.  For the game your investment is considered to be in 1550 theatres which is in "Wide Release".
  • 2nd eg. you have invested 10% in a film which is in 2500 theatres.  For the game your investment is considered to be in 250 theatres which is in "limited release" and as such is NOT in wide release for the game purposes even though the film itself is in wide release.
• As in real life, a studio has limited resources to market films and as such is there is a restriction on the amount of films in "Wide Release" in the game.
  • A Studio / Player is allowed a maximum of 300% or the equivalent of 3 Wide Releases at any one time.  The Film MUST be released to count.
• When a Studio / Player has passed this limit of 300%, that Studio / Player CANNOT invest in a film that is listed as a WIDE release on BOM (either the term WIDE or > 600 forecast theatres)
• TO BE CLEAR :- you will continue to earn $ from films in limited release as always until the film closes.  This does not change.

 

[JJ-8]

Threads operation in this Forum

 

• Main Discussion & Sign Up Thread - Currently located in the Box Office Derby. Will be used for game updates and the like.  No investments will be accepted in this thread but i welcome general discussion and the like.  Reminders will appear in here along with how your Earnings are going overall for the year.  I will will keep the bank accounts and % invested in a seperate thread in the forum.
• Bank Account & Total Invested Thread - I will post regular updates in this thread on how much money you have in the bank and how much % you have used to date. (both are key to being able to invest in future investments)
• Monthly Threads - On a monthly basis i will start a new thread  in this forum (it will be started more than 1 month prior to the first film due for release on that month). This thread will have a list of movies due for release during that month - i will update the first post with what is available whenever i am on based upon the investments made (confirming with your bank accounts you will have enough).  This Thread is to be posted in for investments and i will update monthly results as they come in, in the same thread.
• Purchase / Selling Threads - these are ad hoc. feel free to start these yourselves. If you are negotiating or seeing if someone is willing to sell or buy, create a thread yourself with the title specifically detailing what your up too. lets keep the negotiations away from the investments thread. near the end of 2010, we had some really crazy discussion on negotiations that got a little out of hand and confusing. This way i see us being able to get a better result in this. We've now got a forum ... lets use it!

 

 

Locking, etc (moderation of this forum). I am the moderator of this specific forum also, so i will be able to do this.  When a purchase and sale is agreed i will lock those too... ie. once it's agreed ... that is it!  

 

• When you are investing I am asking you put down the % you want and NOT just the max % (ie. please check your bank accounts before posting!)

   

- Jajang

[JJ-8]

Alright - all set now - the 3 posts above are now up to date. there will be minor changes from time to time.. but these are the rules. if have any questions, well you know who to ask :DALSO:To confirm the official time the game runs off - "GMT - 5 hrs".This post was originally posted @ 11:35pm on the 4th December 2011.This Edit was @ 3:15am on the 1st January 2012.

Edited January 1, 2012 by Jajang

[JJ-8]

Game time is now just set to GMT - 5 hrs. (I have previously called this central time, but i am now setting it permanently to a set time - no daylight savings! )

[JJ-8]

Link to the 2016 Thread (main) in the main sub forum.

 

 

[JJ-8]

2017 Game thread (link)

 

 

[JJ-8]

Rules updated with 2017 game rules....

[JJ-8]

Current Investment Rules with sections crossed out (for 2018 game)

 

Investment Rules

• Players can choose to only invest in part or all of a films budget. Players can invest in 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, 90%, 100% of the budget.  I will also allow investments of 25% and 75%. 
• Players will receive the % of the earnings from the film based upon which % invested in the film. Eg. invested 20%, you will receive 20% of the earnings. 
• You cannot invest in the same film for than a total of more than 100%. (If you invest 100% of the film’s budget, you can not invest in the film a second time.)
• All films will have 300% available for the first 24 hours (This is the absolute max allowed in the game).
• The max % available (ABSOLUTE) for ALL films will be 300%.
• If max investments (ie. no one has invested) is made in the first 24 hours then a film will only have 200% available thereafter.
• If an investment is made in first 24 hours, but total investments are less than 200% then only films which I have IDENTIFIED prior to being available as films which keep 300% keep the 300% max.  ALL other films will reduce to 200% max automatically.
• If more than 200% investments are made in the first 24 hours, the max % available will remain at 300%.
• If no investment is made by 2 weeks prior to Release, then max investment will reduce to 100% and the budget is then 75% of the original/final budget.
• If no investment is made by 1 week prior to Release, then the FINAL budget will be 50% of the original/final budget. 
• If more than 200% investments are made in the first 24 hours, the max % available will remain at 300%.
• If more than 300% investments are made in the first 12 hours, the following will apply:
  • Each player will receive a reduced amount of investment as per the following:
    • Last investor is reduced by 10%.
    • 2nd last is reduced by 10% and last reduced by an additional 10%
    • 3rd, 2nd, and last all reduced by 10% (in addition to above)
    • and so on and so on until the amount is reduced enough such that it adds up to 300%.
    • (if it gets all the way to the first investor then it restarts at the last investor again)
  • using the above manner, we keep a way of letting players who miss the investment time a chance to invest but also still prioritises first in best dressed which there is always an element of in this game.  (I have removed the whole bidding process which I have felt detracted from the gameplay this year)
  • Each player will automatically receive a pro rated % based upon the number of investments.  This is calculated as:
    • New max % per player (for this calculation and u will understand in a minute) = 300 / # of investors in film
    • eg. If you original invested 80% and 6 players in total invested you would 80% of 60 or 48% of the film.
  • Now assuming we have investments less than 100% for each investor, a Bidding process will be kicked off by posting your offer on the additional % you missed out on and the amount you are willing to pay.  Remember you can only go back up to the original % invested in.  The best offers will get the % and if there is any left over it will be returned to the game.  To make this clear, I will only accept your first post and you cannot edit it (I am admin here so i can see your edits cheaters!)
    • eg. the following investments are made in the first 12 hours for a 200m budgeted film: (which means 2m/%)
    • Invest 1 = 100%; Invest 2 = 80%; Invest 3 = 40%; Invest 4 = 50%; Invest 5 = 100%
    • I review sometime later in the day and note investment total of 370%.
    • Total Investers in film = 5 so Investment max is 60%.
    • Each investor now will get : Invest 1 = 60%; Invest 2 = 48%; Invest 3 = 24%; Invest 4 = 30%; Invest 5 = 60%
    • A total of 222% is invested in the film leaving a further 78% for investment in the film.
    • BID WAR is started and the following bids are posted:
      • Investor 1 = +40% ~ 120m (3m/%)
      • Investor 3 = +16% ~ 50m (3.125m/%)
      • Investor 5 = +40% ~ 130m (3.25m/%)
      • No other bids are made (i put a 24 hour limit on the bidding process)
    • which means, Investor 5 gets 40% (as the highest bidder) for 130m and Investor 3 gets 16% for 50m and then Investor as the lowest bidder gets the remaining 22% for 66m.
    • overall this means the new breakdown is:
      • Investor 1 = 82% (186m); Investor 2 = 48% (96m); Investor 3 = 40% (98m); Investor 4 = 30% (60m); Investor 5 = 100% (250m)
    • REMEMBER IF NO-ONE BIDS OR ONLY BIDS ON PART OF THE REMAINING, WHATEVER REMAINS AFTER 24 HOURS IS RETURNED TO THE GAME FOR NORMAL INVESTMENTS. AND IT WILL BE BEST IN BEST DRESSED AT THAT POINT.
• A film is released irrelevant of how much % is invested in total even if only 20% was invested, the film is still released.
• If you have chosen to invest and decide to cancel ALL or part of your investment (keeping within the normal rules above), the following WILL apply:
  • > 2 Weeks prior to release - 100% of the cancelled amount is returned
  • > 1 Week prior to release - 50% of the cancelled amount is returned
  • < 1 Week prior to release - Nothing will be returned at this point so you should just keep your investment.
• You can also choose to sell all or part of your investment (following the same rules as above for investments)
  • Once the movie is released you cannot sell your investment
  • The Sale can be in the form of money or swapping for other investments.
  • The amount is up to you - there are no limits and only need to be agreed between all parties involved.
  • Sales involving money will count towards your earnings for the year.
  • If at time of release an on-sold investment has a budget change, then this change will be reflected in the current owners budget. eg. Investor B bought the movie investment worth 40m of investor A for 60m. The budget then increased to 50m. Investor B's final budget equals 70m as a result because investor B paid a premium of 20m to investor A for the investment

[JJ-8]

Bank Accounts

• Each player will have a Bank Account with which they can spend money to invest in movies.
• Each player will be given starting dollars when they join to begin investing. The value is adjusted each year as appropriate.
• Start dollars (2017) = 80m
• As a bonus for continuing players (from previous year), on the 31st January of the following year, for every 50m you have in your Bank Account in the previous year, you will receive an additional 1m to spend in the following year (2018)

• To invest in a movie, you must have the amount you are investing available in your bank account at the time the investment is made.
• All the money you earn from your investments will be put into your bank account for you to spend further.
• If you no longer have enough money to continue with the game, you can claim bankruptcy and your account will automatically be reset and you will start all over with the Current Start Dollars in your bank account. (all previous investments no longer count)

[JJ-8]

PLEASE IGNORE THESE RULES JUST YET... JUST PLAYING WITH THE GAME RULES FOR 2018 GAME