How to Play
Fantasy Box Office is a draft game where you become a movie studio executive, building a slate of films and competing to earn the most profit from box office performance.
Game Overview
Everyone in your league plays as their own movie studio, creating a release slate for the year. You'll draft movies from real-world wide releases, building your slate through three separate seasons.
As the year progresses, the studios in your league compete to see who can make the most money. The most profitable studio wins!
As the year progresses, the studios in your league compete to see who can make the most money. The most profitable studio wins!
The Movie Calendar
Fantasy Box Office follows the natural rhythm of Hollywood's release calendar, divided into three distinct seasons.
Winter runs from January through April.
Summer runs from May through August.
Fall runs from September through December.
Right before each season starts, your league will draft from wide-release movies scheduled to be released that season.
Winter runs from January through April.
Summer runs from May through August.
Fall runs from September through December.
Right before each season starts, your league will draft from wide-release movies scheduled to be released that season.
Creating a League
Whoever creates the league becomes that league's Commissioner. The Commissioner invites players to their league by generating an invite link. The game supports up to 5 players per league.
Once all the studio heads have joined the league, the Commissioner sets a day and time for the first draft. The Commissioner also sets rules like draft order and the number of movies picked per studio.
Once all the studio heads have joined the league, the Commissioner sets a day and time for the first draft. The Commissioner also sets rules like draft order and the number of movies picked per studio.
The Draft
Drafts follow a snake format where the order reverses each round. That means if you pick first in Round 1, you pick last in Round 2. This makes for a balanced draft overall.
The Pick Types
The draft involves several key pick types, each with unique rules and strategies.
The Hit Pick
The first pick in the draft is your Hit Pick for the year. This pick can come from any point on the calendar and is not restricted to one season. This is your chance to call your shot on what you think may be the biggest film of the year.
Hit Pick
Seasonal & Alt Picks
After each studio has selected their Hit Pick, they go on to draft a certain number of Seasonal Picks for the upcoming season. Depending on when you're holding your draft, you'll be limited to pick from either the Winter, the Summer, or the Fall seasons. The number of picks you can draft is determined by the number of players in your league, and the number of movies left in the schedule by the time you draft.
Each studio will also draft one Alt Pick for the season. This Alt Pick will only count on your slate if another movie you drafted is moved to another season or sent tohell streaming. At that point, the Alt Pick is automatically added to your slate (even if it's already been released).
Note: If there aren't very many movies left in the schedule by the time you draft, you may not draft any Alt Picks.
Each studio will also draft one Alt Pick for the season. This Alt Pick will only count on your slate if another movie you drafted is moved to another season or sent to
Note: If there aren't very many movies left in the schedule by the time you draft, you may not draft any Alt Picks.
Winter Pick
Winter Alt Pick
The Bomb Pick
Additionally, at some point during the draft, you will select a Bomb Pick. Like the Hit Pick, your Bomb Pick can be scheduled for any time of the year. The Bomb Pick is unique because it doesn't go on to your slate - it goes onto the slate of all of your rival studios. The goal here to pick a film that will lose a lot of money while steering clear of those that may break out as runaway successes.
You get to decide when you select your Bomb Pick in the draft. You could even pick it in the first round, but then you'll have to select your Hit Pick in the second round.
You get to decide when you select your Bomb Pick in the draft. You could even pick it in the first round, but then you'll have to select your Hit Pick in the second round.
Bomb Pick
Scoring
The weekend that a movie on your slate is released, your studio loses 2.5 times that movie's reported budget. This means your score will go down on the graph when your movie releases - potentially by a lot, if you're making a big-budget bet. Then, every dollar that movie grosses worldwide is added to your studio's total.
For example, if you had Inside Out 2 on your slate in 2024, its $200 million budget would have put you $500 million in the hole on opening weekend. By the end of the year, it had grossed $1,698,863,816 for a profit of $1,198,863,816. Not too shabby.
Why the 2.5 multiplier? Well, a few reasons. For starters, movie studios (allegedly) lie about budgets in public to (allegedly) create the appearance of success… allegedly. Secondly, reported budgets do not include marketing costs which are a vital part of releasing a movie. Finally, 100% of grosses do not go back into studios' pockets as cuts are taken by theaters, foreign markets, and back-end profit participants. As such, the 2.5 multiplier is often used as a rule of thumb for determining when a movie becomes profitable. It isn't a perfect rule, but it's the one we're using.
For example, if you had Inside Out 2 on your slate in 2024, its $200 million budget would have put you $500 million in the hole on opening weekend. By the end of the year, it had grossed $1,698,863,816 for a profit of $1,198,863,816. Not too shabby.
Why the 2.5 multiplier? Well, a few reasons. For starters, movie studios (allegedly) lie about budgets in public to (allegedly) create the appearance of success… allegedly. Secondly, reported budgets do not include marketing costs which are a vital part of releasing a movie. Finally, 100% of grosses do not go back into studios' pockets as cuts are taken by theaters, foreign markets, and back-end profit participants. As such, the 2.5 multiplier is often used as a rule of thumb for determining when a movie becomes profitable. It isn't a perfect rule, but it's the one we're using.
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Future Seasons
As your first season as a studiohead draws to a close, it will come time to draft again. However, in these future drafts, you'll only be picking Seasonal releases and Alt picks.
In other words, Hit Picks and Bomb Picks are only picked in the first draft of the year.
In other words, Hit Picks and Bomb Picks are only picked in the first draft of the year.
Summer Pick
Fall Pick
Winning
When the dust settles and the year finally comes to a close… Well, actually you might not know your winner just yet. Your studio will continue to collect money for the entirety of your films' theatrical runs, which can extend into the new year. A film like Wicked keeps chugging well into February.
It's ultimately up to you to decide when to declare a winner, but in particularly tight leagues it may be February or March before you officially know which studio has made the most money. Sometimes it's clear who has run away with the victory by the time December is over, but other times, it's necessary to begin next year's competition before this year's has officially ended.
It's ultimately up to you to decide when to declare a winner, but in particularly tight leagues it may be February or March before you officially know which studio has made the most money. Sometimes it's clear who has run away with the victory by the time December is over, but other times, it's necessary to begin next year's competition before this year's has officially ended.
Ready to Start Playing?
Create your first league and invite friends to begin your movie studio competition.