Box Office Derby
How to Play & Claim Prizes

Please use the Derby support forum to report technical issues you are experiencing with the game. An administrator will reply as soon as possible.

The Game

The Box Office Theory's Derby prediction game invites players to compete by predicting the North American weekend box office grosses of a select number of films (usually ten). 

Scoring

Weekly results are determined by the average percentage accuracy of your predictions. Monthly, Seasonal, and Yearly results are determined by the accrual of points.

Points are awarded on a descending scale based on individual game rankings and the maximum number of points is dependent upon the number of players in a respective game.

For example, in a week with 20 players, the best percentage score (first place) would receive 20 points toward their Monthly, Seasonal, and Yearly standings. In the same scenario, the 11th place player would receive 10 points. The last place player in any given game always receives 1 point.

Because all-time standings points are based on weekly percentage accuracy scores, you must predict every movie. Incomplete weekly entries will be voided entirely.

Prizes

The first place winner in Weekly games will receive an official "Derby Champion" title on their forum account for one week.

Seasonal and Yearly first place winners will be awarded a digital Fandango gift card (amounts may vary) in addition to the account title mentioned above. We will make our best effort to contact gift card winners in a timely manner via the email account you sign into the Derby with and/or the personal messenger on the forums.

If you do not hear from us within 72 hours via one of those methods, please let us know.

Monthly, Seasonal, and Yearly winners also qualify for a temporary upgrade to your forum account (including ad-free forum viewing). Find more information here. The forum team will make their best effort to upgrade your account quickly, but it is ultimately the player's responsibility to contact the Forum Administrator(s) to redeem your upgrade.

Disclaimers

Fandango has no official affiliation with The Box Office Theory.

We are not responsible or able to support any technical issues relating to your digital Fandango gift card once it has been to sent your chosen email address.

Gift card offer will expire after 90 days have passed from the time final scores are posted for the relevant game period.

All Derby-related prizes are subject to change if necessary.

 By playing The Box Office Theory's Derby prediction game, you agree to the following terms:

• The game is free to play and is run on a volunteer basis. 
   
• If you contribute to our Forums, you must be in good standing as a member (not currently banned, etc.)
  
  
• We reserve the right to ban anyone from playing the Derby if they are in violation of forum rules or have otherwise abused their account privileges. This includes any and all attempts at cheating (it is at the discretion of the game administrators to define what constitutes cheating).
  
  
• One account per player, no exceptions.
  
  
• We are not liable if technical issues prevent you from being able to enter your predictions and/or receiving prizes.
  
  
• Should any errors in game data entry or result calculations occur that may affect standings, it is at the sole discretion of the Derby Administrators to determine what (if any) steps need to be taken to remedy the error and/or correct the standings.
  

Entering Predictions

All predictions are entered in "millions of dollars". For example, enter 13.55 for a prediction of $13.55 million (or $13,550,000). 

Classic View

Click on the empty prediction field next to each movie. Enter your prediction. Then, you may tab right or click the next movie you want to predict.

Click the Save Predictions button to submit all predictions. If you don't click this, your entry will be lost!

 Wizard View

This allows you to enter your predictions one movie at a time.

Enter your prediction, then click Save and Next to store your prediction and move on to the next movie. On the last step of the wizard, you will see a summary of all your predictions for that weekend.

If the movie is a holdover (any title with reported domestic grosses the previous weekend), you can click the % Drop field and enter the percentage you think the movie will drop from last weekend's gross. Your prediction value will be automatically calculated. 

% Drop View

Similar to Classic View, enter your predictions as if you were were entering numbers in a spreadsheet. Click on a movie's prediction field to enter or edit your prediction.

If the movie is a holdover, you can click the % Drop field and enter the percentage you think the movie will drop from last weekend's gross. Your prediction value will be automatically calculated. 

Click the Save Predictions button to submit all predictions.

The Prediction Summary page is displayed when predictions for the current game's prediction period has closed. The cut-off time is 12:00 AM Pacific every Thursday night/Friday morning.

If you are signed in, you will see your predictions compared to the average of all players' predictions. If you are not signed in, you will only see the average predictions.

Scores will be posted as soon as possible after the studios have reported final grosses from the previous weekend. This typically occurs on Monday afternoon or evening.

We aim to open predictions for the next weekend's game by or before Tuesday morning every week. However, this is dependent upon when the studios report the previous weekend's grosses because of the Derby's new % Drop feature.

When a holiday or any other factor significantly delays official studio reporting, it is likely that scores and the next game's posting will also be delayed. Updates will be communicated on this page and/or the forums when possible and necessary.

The Weekly Scores page details the results of every game played.  The default information shown represents the current active game, but you can change the week being displayed to view historical data by using the drop-down menu.

Score Views & Definitions

Result data is displayed in three different views:

1. Weekly Scores - Shows results for all movies predicted during the selected week.  

• Rank - The player's rank for the selected game. 
  
  
• Player - The Derby player's display name.
  
  
• Total Score - The % accuracy across all movies predicted for the selected game.
  
  
• New Release Score - The % accuracy across all new releases predicted for the selected game.
  
  
• Holdover Score - The % accuracy across all holdovers predicted for the selected game.
  
  
• Average Difference from Avg. Total Score - For each movie, the Derby will calculate both the average % accuracy among all players and the % difference between your prediction and that average. This column displays the % difference averaged over every movie predicted in the selected period. 
  
  
• Total Points - The points awarded for the selected game.  This is the value that determines the Monthly, Seasonal and Yearly winners.
  
  Click the '>' symbol next to a player's name to view that player's prediction results.
  

2. Your Weekly Scores - Displays the results for all movies predicted during the selected week.  You will only see data on this page if you are signed in.

• Title - The movie title.
  
  
• Prediction - Your prediction for that movie.
  
  
• Actual - The actual weekend gross for that movie.
  
  
• Your Score - The % accuracy for that movie.
  
  
• Average Score - The average % accuracy for all players in the selected game.
  
  
• Difference from Avg. Total Score - The difference between your score and the average score.

3. All Weekly Scores - Displays detailed results for all movies predicted among all players during the selected week.  The information displayed here is the same as found under the 'Your Weekly Scores' tab.

Click on the 'Funnel' icon above the Player and/or Title to can filter data displayed on this page.

The standings page displays All-Time, Yearly, Seasonal, and Monthly scores for all Derby games and players.

For the purposes of the game, there are five seasons per year: Winter (January and February), Spring (March and April), Summer (May through August), Fall (September and October), and Holiday (November and December).

Brief explanations of the fields on this page:

• Player - The Derby player's display name
  
  
• Total Points - Cumulative points won for all games played in the selected period.  This is the value that determines the Monthly, Seasonal and Yearly winners.
  
  
• Average Weekly Score - The % accuracy as averaged from all games played in the selected standings period.
  
  
• Games Played - The total number of games played in the selected period.
  
  
• Average New Release Score - The % accuracy for all new releases predicted in the selected period.
  
  
• Average Holdover Score - The % accuracy for all holdovers predicted in the selected period.
  
  
• Average Difference from Avg. Total Score - For each movie, the Derby will calculate both the average % accuracy among all players and the % difference between your prediction and that average. This column displays the % difference averaged over every movie predicted in the selected period.

Standings Periods

• All-Time - Standings for every Derby Game ever played.
  
  
• Yearly - Standings for the selected Year.
  
  
• Seasonal - Standings for the selected Season and Year.
  
  
• Monthly - Standings for the selected Month and Year.