Dem
47
GOP
53
Some of the games we put together this month will involve a lot more planning and preparation. But planning and preparation are not especially compatible with "we just decided to do this 48 hours ago" nor with "finals week is upon us." So, today it will be another pretty simple one. Maybe consider these first few a warm-up?
Here's the concept for today's entry. We're going to run down, in reverse order, a dozen of the highest-grossing Christmas films (adjusted for inflation). This list, and the box office numbers, come from Box Office Mojo, so if you have objections to any entry on the list, take it up with them.
We are not, of course, going to give you the names of the films. What we will give you is (1) the ranking on the all-time Christmas-movie grosses list, (2) the inflation-adjusted gross, (3) the year of release, and (4) the first piece of trivia listed on the film's IMDB trivia page. From that, you have to identify the movie. We think these are manageable enough that we're not doing multiple choice today—you will have to operate by your wits alone (please note: Google, IMDB, etc. are not part of ANYONE's wits—no peeking!).
And with that out of the way:
Rank: 15
Adjusted Gross: $180 Million
Year: 1989
Trivia: Final film of Mae Questel, whose film career began in 1930 as the voice of Betty Boop.
Rank: 14
Adjusted Gross: $190 Million
Year: 1993
Trivia: Tim Burton has said the original poem was inspired after seeing Halloween merchandise display in a store being taken down and replaced by a Christmas display. The juxtaposition of ghouls and goblins with Santa and his reindeer sparked his imagination.
Rank: 12
Adjusted Gross: $315 Million
Year: 2006
Trivia: This film was written specifically with Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, and Jack Black in mind.
Rank: 11
Adjusted Gross: $375 Million
Year: 2003
Trivia: The scene when Buddy eats different candies and pastries with the spaghetti noodles had to be shot twice, because Will Ferrell vomited the first time.
Rank: 10
Adjusted Gross: $380 Million
Year: 1994
Trivia: One of the children in Charlie's class during Parents Day is an elf with pointed ears, which can be clearly seen when Charlie pulls the snow globe out of his backpack. When Charlie tells the class that his dad is Santa Claus, the elf boy is the only one who doesn't laugh.
Rank: 9
Adjusted Gross: $400 Million
Year: 2003
Trivia: When casting the part of Sarah, writer and director Richard Curtis auditioned a great many British women, but kept saying, "I want someone like Laura Linney." The casting director eventually snapped and said, "Oh, for fu**'s sake, get Laura Linney then." Linney then auditioned and got the part.
Rank: 8
Adjusted Gross: $440 Million
Year: 2009
Trivia: In the Cratchit home, there is a portrait of the story's author, Charles Dickens, hanging by the fireplace.
Rank: 7
Adjusted Gross: $470 Million
Year: 2004
Trivia: The film is listed in the 2006 Guinness Book of World Records as the "first all-digital capture" film, where all acted parts were done in digital capture.
Rank: 5
Adjusted Gross: $590 Million
Year: 1992
Trivia: Burgess Meredith was asked to play the Penguin's father in the opening of the film, but illness prevented him from it.
Rank: 3
Adjusted Gross: $630 Million
Year: 2000
Trivia: According to Rick Baker, the prosthetic makeup Jim Carrey wore took about two hours to apply and one hour to remove. Carrey revealed on The Graham Norton Show that he felt so confined and uncomfortable in the latex skin that he sought counseling from a CIA agent who taught him torture-resistance techniques.
Rank: 2
Adjusted Gross: $790 Million
Year: 1992
Trivia: Donald Trump owned the Plaza Hotel at the time and insisted on being given a cameo in the film in return for letting the crew film in his hotel. Chris Columbus considered editing it out but decided to keep it in after it went over well with test audiences
Rank: 1
Adjusted Gross: $1.1 billion
Year: 1990
Trivia: Joe Pesci deliberately avoided Macaulay Culkin on-set because he wanted Culkin to think he was mean.
Tiebreaker: How much did the #1 film gross in UNADJUSTED dollars, to the nearest million?
Care to try your luck? Then click here. (Z)