In 2024, level at 1-win a piece between Ashley and Dylan, the 3rd annual WDYWW Fantasy Movie Game saw a big change with the introduction of film festival wild card picks. With the year over, let’s see how that changed the game this year and who came out on top.

The Rules

The scores for each film are based on the Rotten Tomato’s critics average rating. For every 0.1 above 6.0 a film gets, it gets one point. For every 0.1 below 6.0, it loses one point. If a movie isn’t released in the year, it is treated as getting a 6.0, and therefore 0 points.

There are also special rules to make certain points worth more or less. If a film scores above a 8.0, every 0.1 above 8.0 is worth two points instead of one. Meanwhile, for every 0.1 below 4.0, the loss of points is only half a point. 

Finally, there are bonus points based on worldwide box office ranking from Box Office Mojo. The film ranked 1 for the year earns 20 points. Rank 2 earns 18 points and so on through to rank 10 earning 2 points.

Each Person selected 8 films and 2 wildcards at the start of the year and pick 3 more films and 1 wildcard in the middle of the year. 

Any negative critic scores for the wildcard entries don’t count.

This year, each person will also select two wildcard films from each of these four film festivals:

  • Sundance Film Festival
  • Cannes Film Festival
  • Venice Film Festival
  • Toronto International Film Festival

To be eligible the films, the film must not have been screened and reviewed before selection.

Whoever’s film picks net the most points wins.

Dylan’s Picks

Dune: Part 2

Release date: 29 February 2024

Directed by: Denis Villeneuve
Starring: Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgård, Dave Bautista, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Zendaya, Charlotte Rampling, Javier Bardem, Florence Pugh, Austin Butler, Léa Seydoux, Christopher Walken

RT Critic Average Rating: 8.4
Worldwide Box Office Rank: 5

Critic Points: 28
Box Office Points: 12
Total Points: 40

Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse

Release date: TBD

Directed by: Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson
Starring: Shameik Moore, Hailee Steinfeld, Jason Schwartzman, Jake Johnson, Issa Rae, Daniel Kaluuya, Brian Tyree Henry, Luna Lauren Vélez, Greta Lee, Rachel Dratch, Jorma Taccone, Shea Whigham, Oscar Isaac

RT Critic Average Rating: N/A
Worldwide Box Office Rank: N/A

Critic Points: 0
Box Office Points: 0
Total Points: 0

Joker: Folie à Deux

Release date: 3 October 2024

Directed by: Todd Phillips
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Zazie Beetz, Brendan Gleeson, Catherine Keener, Jacob Lofland, Harry Lawtey

RT Critic Average Rating: 4.9
Worldwide Box Office Rank: 3

Critic Points: -11
Box Office Points: 22
Total Points: -11

Inside Out 2

Release date: 13 June 2024

Directed by: Kelsey Mann
Starring: Amy Poehler, Phyllis Smith, Lewis Black, Tony Hale, Liza Lapira, Maya Hawke

RT Critic Average Rating: 7.6
Worldwide Box Office Rank: 1

Critic Points: 16
Box Office Points: 20
Total Points: 36

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

Release date: 23 May 2024

Directed by: Wes Ball
Starring: Owen Teague, Freya Allan, Kevin Durand, Peter Macon, and William H. Macy.

RT Critic Average Rating: 7.0
Worldwide Box Office Rank: 14

Critic Points: 10
Total Points: 10

Paddington in Peru

Release date: 1 January 2025

Directed by: Dougal Wilson
Starring: Ben Whishaw, Hugh Bonneville, Emily Mortimer, Julie Walters, Jim Broadbent, Madeleine Harris, Samuel Joslin, Olivia Colman, Antonio Banderas, Carla Tous

RT Critic Average Rating: 6.9
Worldwide Box Office Rank: 56

Critic Points: 9
Box Office Points: 0
Total Points: 9

Civil War

Release date: 24 April 2024

Directed by: Alex Garland
Starring: Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Moura, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Cailee Spaeny, Jesse Plemons, Nick Offerman

RT Critic Average Rating: 7.5
Worldwide Box Office Rank: 33

Critic Points: 15
Box Office Points: 0
Total Points: 15

Imaginary

Release date: 14 March 2024

Directed by: Jeff Wadlow
Starring: DeWanda Wise, Tom Payne, Taegen Burns, Pyper Braun, Veronica Falcón, Betty Buckley

RT Critic Average Rating: 4.1
Worldwide Box Office Rank: 63

Critic Points: -19
Box Office Points: 0
Total Points: -19

Gladiator II

Release date: 14 November 2024

Directed by: Ridley Scott
Starring: Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, Joseph Quinn, Fred Hechinger, Lior Raz, Derek Jacobi, Connie Nielsen, Denzel Washington

RT Critic Average Rating: 6.6
Worldwide Box Office Rank: 12

Critic Points: 6
Box Office Points: 0
Total Points: 6

Alien: Romulus

Release date: 15 August 2024

Directed by:Fede Álvarez
Starring: Cailee Spaeny, David Jonsson, Archie Renaux, Isabela Merced, Spike Fearn, Aileen Wu

RT Critic Average Rating: 6.9
Worldwide Box Office Rank: 17

Critic Points: 9
Box Office Points: 0
Total Points: 9

Sonic The Hedgehog 3

Release date: 26 December 2024

Directed by: Jeff Fowler
Starring: Jim Carrey, Ben Schwartz, Colleen O’Shaughnessey, James Marsden, Tika Sumpter, Idris Elba, Keanu Reeves

RT Critic Average Rating: 6.8
Worldwide Box Office Rank: 18

Critic Points: 8
Box Office Points: 0
Total Points: 8

Dylan’s General Wildcards

Love Lies Bleeding

Release date: 14 March 2024

Directed by: Rose Glass
Starring: Kristen Stewart, Katy O’Brian, Jena Malone, Anna Baryshnikov, Dave Franco and Ed Harris.

RT Critic Average Rating: 7.8
Worldwide Box Office Rank: 141

Critic Points: 18
Box Office Points: 0
Total Points: 18

Argylle

Release date: 1 February 2024

Directed by: Matthew Vaughn
Starring: Henry Cavill, Bryce Dallas Howard, Sam Rockwell, Bryan Cranston, Catherine O’Hara, Dua Lipa, Ariana DeBose, John Cena, Samuel L. Jackson.

RT Critic Average Rating: 4.8
Worldwide Box Office Rank: 39

Critic Points: 0
Box Office Points: 0
Total Points: 0

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

Release date: 5 September 2024

Directed by: Tim Burton
Starring: Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, and Catherine O’Hara reprising their roles alongside new cast members Justin Theroux, Monica Bellucci, Jenna Ortega, Willem Dafoe

RT Critic Average Rating: 6.5
Worldwide Box Office Rank: 10

Critic Points: 5
Box Office Points: 2
Total Points: 7

Dylan’s Sundance Wildcards

The Moogai

Release date: 31 October 2024

Directed by: Jon Bell
Starring: Shari Sebbens, Meyne Wyatt, Tessa Rose, Bella Heathcote, Clarence Ryan

RT Critic Average Rating: 4.9
Worldwide Box Office Rank: N/A

Critic Points: 0
Box Office Points: 0
Total Points: 0

Winner

Release date: TBD

Directed by: Susanna Fogel
Starring: Emilia Jones, Kathryn Newton, Connie Britton, Zach Galifianakis, Danny Ramirez, Shannon Berry

RT Critic Average Rating: 5.9
Worldwide Box Office Rank: N/A

Critic Points: 0
Box Office Points: 0
Total Points: 0

Dylan’s Cannes Wildcards

Kinds of Kindness

Release date: 11 July 2024

Directed by: Yorgos Lanthimos
Starring: Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Willem Dafoe, Margaret Qualley, Hong Chau, Joe Alwyn, Mamoudou Athie, Hunter Schafer

RT Critic Average Rating: 6.5
Worldwide Box Office Rank: 122

Critic Points: 5
Box Office Points: 0
Total Points: 5

Megalopolis

Release date: 26 September 2024

Directed by: Francis Ford Coppola
Starring: Adam Driver, Giancarlo Esposito, Nathalie Emmanuel, Aubrey Plaza, Shia LaBeouf, Jon Voight, Laurence Fishburne, Talia Shire, Jason Schwartzman, Kathryn Hunter, Grace VanderWaal, Chloe Fineman, James Remar, D. B. Sweeney, Dustin Hoffman

RT Critic Average Rating: 4.8
Worldwide Box Office Rank: 137

Critic Points: 0
Box Office Points: 0
Total Points: 0

Dylan’s Venice Wildcards

Queer

Release date: 06 February 2025

Directed by: Luca Guadagnino
Starring: Daniel Craig, Drew Starkey, Jason Schwartzman, Henry Zaga, Omar Apollo, Lesley Manville

RT Critic Average Rating: 7.0
Worldwide Box Office Rank: N/A

Critic Points: 10
Box Office Points: 0
Total Points: 10

The Order

Release date: TBD

Directed by: Justin Kurzel
Starring: Jude Law, Nicholas Hoult, Tye Sheridan, Jurnee Smollett, Alison Oliver, Marc Maron

RT Critic Average Rating: 7.6
Worldwide Box Office Rank: N/A

Critic Points: 16
Box Office Points: 0
Total Points: 16

Dylan’s Toronto Wildcards

We Live In Time

Release date: 16 January 2025

Directed by: John Crowley
Starring: Andrew Garfield, Florence Pugh

RT Critic Average Rating: 7.1
Worldwide Box Office Rank: 83

Critic Points: 11
Box Office Points: 0
Total Points: 11

The Life of Chuck

Release date: TBD

Directed by:Mike Flanagan
Starring: Tom Hiddleston, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Karen Gillan, Mark Hamill, Jacob Tremblay, Nick Offerman

RT Critic Average Rating: 7.4
Worldwide Box Office Rank: N/A

Critic Points: 14
Box Office Points: 0
Total Points: 14

Ashley’s Picks

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

Release date: 23 May 2024

Directed by: George Miller
Starring: Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth, Tom Burke, Alyla Browne, Nathan Jones, Angus Sampson, Quaden Bayles, Daniel Webber, Lachy Hulme

RT Critic Average Rating: 79
Worldwide Box Office Rank: 28

Critic Points: 19
Box Office Points: 0
Total Points: 19

Mickey 17

Release date: 17 April 2025

Directed by: Bong Joon-ho
Starring: Robert Pattinson, Steven Yeun, Naomi Ackie, Toni Collette, Mark Ruffalo

RT Critic Average Rating: N/A
Worldwide Box Office Rank: N/A

Critic Points: 0
Box Office Points: 0
Total Points: 0

The Fall Guy

Release date: 2 May 2024

Directed by: David Leitch
Starring: Ryan Gosling, Emily Blunt, Winston Duke, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Hannah Waddingham, Stephanie Hsu

RT Critic Average Rating: 7.1
Worldwide Box Office Rank: 26

Critic Points: 11
Box Office Points: 0
Total Points: 11

Kung Fu Panda 4

Release date: 28 March 2024

Directed by: Mike Mitchell
Starring: Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, James Hong, Bryan Cranston, Ian McShane, Awkwafina, Viola Davis, Ke Huy Quan

RT Critic Average Rating: 6.2
Worldwide Box Office Rank: 8

Critic Points: 2
Box Office Points: 6
Total Points: 8

Deadpool & Wolverine

Release date: 25 July 2024

Directed by:  Shawn Levy
Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, Morena Baccarin, Brianna Hildebrand, Jennifer Garner, Emma Corrin

RT Critic Average Rating: 7.0
Worldwide Box Office Rank: 2

Critic Points: 10
Box Office Points: 18
Total Points: 28

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

Release date: 28 March 2024

Directed by: Gil Kenan
Starring: Finn Wolfhard, Mckenna Grace, Paul Rudd, Carrie Coon, Celeste O’Connor, Logan Kim, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts, William Atherton, Kumail Nanjiani, Patton Oswalt

RT Critic Average Rating: 5.2
Worldwide Box Office Rank: 23

Critic Points: -8
Box Office Points: 0
Total Points: -8

Challengers

Release date: 24 April 2024

Directed by: Luca Guadagnino
Starring: Zendaya, Josh O’Connor, Mike Faist

RT Critic Average Rating: 8.0
Worldwide Box Office Rank: 40

Critic Points: 20
Box Office Points: 0
Total Points: 20

 

From the World of John Wick: Ballerina

Release date: 5 June 2025

Directed by: Len Wiseman
Starring: Ana de Armas, Anjelica Huston, Gabriel Byrne, Lance Reddick, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Norman Reedus, Ian McShane, Keanu Reeves

RT Critic Average Rating: N/A
Worldwide Box Office Rank: N/A

Critic Points: 0
Box Office Points: 0
Total Points: 0

Nosferatu

Release date: 1 January 2025

Directed by: Robert Eggers
Starring: Bill Skarsgård, Nicholas Hoult, Lily-Rose Depp, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Emma Corrin, Ralph Ineson, Simon McBurney, Willem Dafoe

RT Critic Average Rating: 8.3
Worldwide Box Office Rank: 37

Critic Points: 26
Box Office Points: 0
Total Points: 26

Moana 2

Release date: 28 November 2024

Directed by: David Derrick Jr., Jason Hand, Dana Ledoux Miller
Starring: Auli’i Cravalho, Dwayne Johnson, Temuera Morrison, Nicole Scherzinger, Rachel House, Alan Tudyk, Hualālai Chung, Rose Matafeo, David Fane, Awhimai Fraser, Khaleesi Lambert-Tsuda, Gerald Ramsey

RT Critic Average Rating: 59
Worldwide Box Office Rank: 4

Critic Points: -1
Box Office Points: 14
Total Points: 13

Blitz

Release date: 3 October 2024

Directed by: Steve McQueen
Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Elliot Heffernan, Harris Dickinson, Benjamin Clementine, Kathy Burke, Paul Weller, and Stephen Graham

RT Critic Average Rating: 7.0
Worldwide Box Office Rank: 3

Critic Points: 10
Box Office Points: 0
Total Points: 10

Ashley’s General Wildcards

Abigail

Release date: 18 April 2024

Directed by: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett
Starring: Melissa Barrera, Alisha Weir, Dan Stevens, Kevin Durand, Kathryn Newton, Angus Cloud, Will Catlett, Giancarlo Esposito.

RT Critic Average Rating: 6.8
Worldwide Box Office Rank: 64

Critic Points: 8
Box Office Points: 0
Total Points: 8

Bad Boys: Ride or Die

Release date: TBD

Directed by: Adil & Bilall
Starring: Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, Vanessa Hudgens, Alexander Ludwig, Paola Núñez, Tasha Smith, Eric Dane, Ioan Gruffudd, Rhea Seehorn

RT Critic Average Rating: 6.0
Worldwide Box Office Rank: 13

Critic Points: 0
Box Office Points: 0
Total Points: 0

Trap

Release date: 1 Aug 2024

Directed by: M. Night Shyamalan
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Ariel Donoghue, Saleka Night Shyamalan, Hayley Mills, Alison Pill

RT Critic Average Rating: 5.5
Worldwide Box Office Rank: 44

Critic Points: 0
Box Office Points: 0
Total Points: 0

Ashley’s Sundance Wildcards

Love Me

Release date: TBD
Directed by: Sam Zuchero, Andy Zuchero

Starring: Kristen Stewart, Steven Yeun.

RT Critic Average Rating: 5.8
Worldwide Box Office Rank: N/A

Critic Points: 0
Box Office Points: 0
Total Points: 0

 

Sasquatch Sunset

Release date: 27 November 2024

Directed by: Nathan Zellner, David Zellner
Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Riley Keough, Nathan Zellner and Christophe Zajac-Denek

RT Critic Average Rating: 6.6
Worldwide Box Office Rank: N/A

Critic Points: 6
Box Office Points: 0
Total Points: 6

Ashley’s Cannes Wildcards

The Apprentice

Release date: 3 October 2024
Directed by: Ali Abbasi

Starring: Sebastian Stan, Jeremy Strong, Maria Bakalova

RT Critic Average Rating: 6.9
Worldwide Box Office Rank: 120

Critic Points: 9
Box Office Points: 0
Total Points: 9

 

Anora

Release date: 26 December 2024

Directed by: Sean Baker
Starring: Mikey Madison, Mark Eydelshteyn, Yura Borisov, Karren Karagulian, Vache Tovmasyan, Aleksei Serebryakov

RT Critic Average Rating: 8.5
Worldwide Box Office Rank: 84

Critic Points: 30
Box Office Points: 0
Total Points: 30

Ashley’s Venice Wildcards

Babygirl

Release date: 30 January 2025
Directed by: Halina Reijn

Starring: Nicole Kidman, Harris Dickinson, Sophie Wilde, Antonio Banderas

RT Critic Average Rating: 7.0
Worldwide Box Office Rank: 115

Critic Points: 10
Box Office Points: 0
Total Points: 10

 

Maria

Release date: 30 January 2025

Directed by: Pablo Larraín
Starring: Angelina Jolie, Pierfrancesco Favino, Alba Rohrwacher, Haluk Bilginer, Stephen Ashfield, Valeria Golino, Kodi Smit-McPhee

RT Critic Average Rating: 6.8
Worldwide Box Office Rank: N/A

Critic Points: 8
Box Office Points: 0
Total Points: 8

Ashley’s Toronto Wildcards

The Wild Robot

Release date: 12 September 2024
Directed by: Chris Sanders

Starring: Lupita Nyong’o, Pedro Pascal, Kit Connor, Bill Nighy, Stephanie Hsu, Mark Hamill, Catherine O’Hara, Matt Berry, Ving Rhames

RT Critic Average Rating: 8.4
Worldwide Box Office Rank: 19

Critic Points: 28
Box Office Points: 0
Total Points: 28

 

Nightbitch

Release date: 24 January 2025

Directed by: Marielle Heller
Starring: Amy Adams, Scoot McNairy, Arleigh Snowden, Emmett Snowden, Mary Holland, Ella Thomas, Archana Rajan, Jessica Harper

RT Critic Average Rating: 6.0
Worldwide Box Office Rank: N/A

Critic Points: 0
Box Office Points: 0
Total Points: 0

FINAL SCORES

DYLAN: 184

ASHLEY: 226

Ashley wins his 2nd WDYWW Fantasy Movie Game in a row in the highest-scoring edition of the game so far, as expected with the addition of 8 extra wild card picks each this year. Interestingly, just like last year, if we were to go off the score just from the films picked at the start of the year, Dylan would have won 98-86 on the back of the highest-scoring picks of the year in Inside Out 2 and Dune: Part 2. Unfortunately, his wild cards and mid-year picks didn’t perform highly, while Joker: Folie à Deux drastically underperformed critically and financially and the choice of Imaginary provided the biggest loss of points

Meanwhile, Ashley was more successful with his picks after the initial draft with Anora, Nosferatu and The Wild Robot proving to be high-scoring selections. Ashley was again hit with delays, with his picks of Mickey 17 and Ballerina earning 0 points each after moving to 2025 compared to Dylan who only missed out earning points for 1 pick with no release date announced for Spider-Man: Beyond The Spider-Verse.

This year saw the box office points split with Ashley leading 38-34 out of the possible 110 points. Ashley also lead Dylan in critic points, with a score of 188-150 with 12 of Ashley’s 20 films having a critic rating over 6.0. Dylan had more picks scoring critics points with 13 of his 20 films with a 6.0 or higher rating but was hit harder with point deductions with -30 points compared to Ashley’s -8.

Here’s hoping the 2025 WDYWW Fantasy Movie Game is just as interesting a contest.

Check out our 2025 WDYWW Fantasy Movie Game Draft & 2024 Results episode here: