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Our predictions for 2007's biggest box office movies

Posted Friday, January 5, 2007 at 4:27 PM Central

by John Couture

I love the smell of celluloid in the morning! And speaking of mornings, it's a fresh start on a new year and it wouldn't be right if we didn't go out and make silly predictions as to which movies would be on top come this time next year.

As you can see from our 2006 guesses, we had a lot more misses than hits (The Fountain?!?!?). But, as the old adage goes, to each new day, there's a fresh start or something like that.

And so, it's with much trepidation that we put our reputations and good names (ha!) on the line with this year's prospective list of top box office hits. And trust me, this one was no piece of cake.

You might as well call 2007 "The Year of the Sequel" as nine of our top 15 movies are continuations of previous films. One thing is certain, 2007 is bound to be a bonzo year of record making proportions and we're just happy to be along for the ride.

So, without further ado, here's our list of what should, but probably won't, be the top 15 grossing movies of 2007:

  1. Spider-Man 3 - The safe bet. The previous two movies in this franchise were huge blockbusters.
  2. Shrek the Third - The big green ogre means big green dollar signs for Dreamworks. And yes, all three of our top movies open in May. Good luck finding a seat in local megaplex.
  3. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End - Last year's Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest was the top-grossing film of 2006. Those scurvy rascals might take the top spot two years in a row.
  4. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - You can't go wrong with everyone's favorite boy wizard. It doesn't hurt that the series-ending book is due out right around the time that this film hits theaters.
  5. Bourne Ultimatum - And so starts the battle for fifth place. The top four are locks. We like this spy series ender to pull out the upset victory.
  6. National Treasure 2: The Book of Secrets - Nic Cage and company are back for a little holiday merriment. Surely a nice precursor to 2008's Indiana Jones 4.
  7. Transformers - Talk about your "More Than Meets the Eye" movie.
  8. Live Free or Die Hard - Do we really need to bring John McClane out of the old folks home for another movie? Apparently so. And given the financial winfall of the last movie, the only thing shocking is that it's so late it coming back to theaters.
  9. Evan Almighty - Subtract Jim Carrey. Augment Steve Carell. This time Evan will be building an arc. Talk about your laughs two-by-two.
  10. The Simpsons Movie - It didn't become the longest-running animated TV series by accident.
  11. Ghost Rider - Will this be the year of Nic Cage? We're thinking so. And besides, Wes Bentley is in it and, well, um. OK.
  12. Fred Claus - Vince Vaughn playing Santa's dysfunctional brother. Comic gold.
  13. Grind House - What's that? Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez together? On the same movie? There's a girl with a machine gun for a leg? I'm so there.
  14. Ocean's Thirteen - Danny Ocean and his all-star cast of crooks, criminals and mad men are back for a third heist that will surely leave us scratching our heads. But, can they steal some box office gold?
  15. Fantastic Four: Rise of The Silver Surfer - Of course the biggest downfall to this movie is that they keep making Jessica Alba invisible. If she had more real screen time, this one would much higher up the list.