Here's a prediction based on user searches: How the Grinch Stole Christmas will become the 47th top-grossing movie of all time.
In case you haven't heard, HTGSC opens in November. It's a live-action remake of the Dr. Seuss book; a cartoon version of the story has been a holiday classic since 1962. This new version stars Jim Carrey, directed by Ron "Don't Call Me Opie" Howard.
We've noticed that searches for HTGCS are unusually strong and have been rising steadily since late July. But there's more to the prediction than that.
A little background: Dr. Seuss's work obviously evokes strong opinions and his name is always popular on our search logs. Last week, in fact, he got about the same number of searches as Garth Brooks and Jamie Lee Curtis.
However, we rarely see searches for Suess's books or his characters. Last week we had exactly zero searches for Horton the Elephant, the Sneetches, or even Cindy Lou Who. Even The Cat in The Hat got only a few dozen queries, and most of those were for Halloween costumes.
Meanwhile, web users are usually (and oddly) disdainful of Carrey. Despite being one of Hollywood's hottest draws, he didn't even rank among the web's top 20 actors in a survey we did in June. Jackie Chan and even John Wayne were way ahead of him. There was almost zero buzz for his last big film, Me Myself and Irene.
With those points in mind we wouldn't expect HTGSC to have much web buzz. But it does: last week it got as many searches as Julia Roberts, Lyme disease or Atlantic City. That's heady company.
We admit the exact #47 is a shot in the dark. To hit that spot on the all-time top 50 the Grinch would have to reach $176 million in domestic take, thereby topping the current #47, Crocodile Dundee.
Three movies this year have passed that mark: Mission Impossible II ($215 million), Gladiator ($186 million) and The Perfect Storm ($181 million).
We'll bet you a juicy roast beast that HTGSC becomes the fourth.
