Summer Movie League Rules


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There are two ways to play SummerMovieLeague.com (“SML”). WITH a Studio Budget and WITHOUT a Studio Budget. Within those two formats, you can create a public or private league, compete in a public league (or a private league if you have the password) or you can just play by yourself, against everyone else on the global scoreboard.


When you create a league, you have a choice of playing the game over the default time frame (like the Summer season is Memorial Day to Labor Day) or choosing a specific time frame (August 1st to Dec 31st, for example).


Here’s how to play the two different versions.


WITHOUT A STUDIO BUDGET:

  1. The idea of the game is to pick ten movies for your fantasy movie studio that will be released during the game’s time frame. For Summer, those dates are the Friday of Memorial Day weekend up to the Tuesday morning of Labor Day weekend. Money earned by a film AFTER the end of the time frame will NOT count.
  2. There will be other time frames and people may create a custom league with different time frames as well. Be sure to check what the time frame of your game is.
  3. Whichever studio’s movie slate has accumulated the most total money in domestic box office plus bonuses (see below) during the game’s time frame is the winner.
  4. To set your line-up: Pick the ten movies you think will gross the most money at the domestic box office (United States, first run) for your studio slate (aka your line-up). You can pick any ten.
  5. You may swap movies at any time you want, as long as the movie HAS NOT OPENED. Once a movie has opened, you cannot add or remove it from your slate.
  6. After you have picked your ten movies, rank them in order that you believe they will rank over the time frame. For example, your rankings from Summer 2011 might have looked like this:
    1. Transformers 3
    2. Captain America
    3. Hangover Part 2
    4. Cars 2
      ETC
  7. After the time frame, all movies released are then ranked according to TOTAL DOMESTIC BOX OFFICE during the time frame of the game.
  8. If you correctly predict the exact spot for a movie’s box office rank, you get a $10 (ten) million dollar bonus added to your total. In the example above, Hangover Part 2 WAS the third highest grossing movie last summer, so you would get a ten million dollar bonus for that rank.
  9. If you are within one spot (on either side) in terms of your rank, you get a $5 (five) million dollar bonus added to your box office total. In the example above, Transformers 3 was actually the #2 movie last summer, so you would get a $5 million dollar bonus for that. In addition, Cars 2 was the #5 movie last summer, so you would also get a $5 million dollar bonus for Cars 2. Captain America, however, was the number 8 movie last summer, so you would get NO bonus for ranking it second.
  10. Most total box office plus bonuses for their slate (line-up) during the time frame wins. Simple.


WITH A STUDIO BUDGET:

  1. The premise is the same. The idea of the game is to pick ten movies for your fantasy movie studio that will be released during the game’s time frame. For Summer, those dates are the Friday of Memorial Day weekend up to the Tuesday morning of Labor Day weekend. Money earned by a film AFTER the end of the time frame will NOT count.
  2. There will be other time frames and people may create a custom league with different time frames as well. Be sure to check what the time frame of your game is.
  3. Whichever studio’s movie slate has accumulated the most total money in domestic box office during the game’s time frame is the winner.
  4. To set your line-up: Pick the ten movies you think will gross the most money at the domestic box office (United States, first run) for your studio slate (aka your line-up). You can pick any ten, AS LONG AS THE TOTAL PRICE FOR YOUR TEN MOVIES DOES NOT EXCEED $100 MILLION DOLLARS.
  5. In the Studio Budget version, every studio (your “team”) has a total budget of $100 million. Every motion picture that is scheduled to be released has been given a price.
  6. Select ten movies, with the total cost of the ten movies equal to or less than $100 million. You cannot exceed $100 million in terms of total cost of your line-up.
  7. You may swap movies at any time you want, as long as the movie HAS NOT OPENED. Once a movie has opened, you cannot change it.
  8. Again, at the end of the time frame, the studio slate whose movies combine for the most total domestic box office during the game’s time frame is the winner.


SETTING UP A LEAGUE:

  1. There are three ways to play either STUDIO BUDGET or WITHOUT A STUDIO BUDGET.
  2. By yourself, in a public league, in a private league.
  3. If you want to play “by yourself” then just sign up, choose the way you want to play and your studio will compete on the global scoreboard against everyone else who has chosen the same way to play.
  4. If you want to play in a public league, you can either create a public league or join one. A public league is exactly what it sounds like. A league that is open to the public that anyone can join. There is no limit to the amount of studios that can be in a public league. Be sure to check the time frame of the game and the rules of a public league you are joining to make sure it’s what you want.
  5. When creating a public league, choose a name for the league (keep it clean, please!), the kind of scoring you want (With a studio budget or without) and what time frame you want the league to cover. We suggest three to four months is a pretty good season.
  6. Players in public leagues will also have their scores counted on the global scoreboard, so you’ll be able to see how your studio competes in both your public league and against everyone else playing this version of the game.
  7. A private league is exactly what it sounds like. This is a league that is only visible to the members of the league and requires a password to join. This is ideal for friends, family, co-workers… anywhere where you want to control who you play against.
  8. If you want to play in a private league, you can either create a private league or (if you have the password from the league creator) play in one.
  9. When creating a private league, choose a name for the league (keep it clean, please!), the kind of scoring you want (With a studio budget or without), what time frame you want the league to cover (we suggest three to four months is a pretty good season) and what the password is.
  10. You’ll need to invite your friends to play and give them the password so they can join. You can either email them through the site or give them the password some other way, but the only way they can join the league is with the password.
  11. The League Manager of a Private League can decide whether or not the scores of all members will be included in the global scoreboard or not.
  12. While you may create any custom time frame you want for your league, there are three main standard time frames. Summer (Memorial Day Weekend until two weeks after Labor Day weekend), Fall/Winter (Oct 1 until Dec 31) and Spring (Jan 1st until Memorial Day). Global Standings reflect these league time frames.
  13. Any other questions? Did we miss a movie that is scheduled to be released? Just ask. Support@summermovieleague.com


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