A piece of the action movie

Hollywood loves to gamble, wagering everything from $20 million to hire Will Ferrell to more than $150 million to remake “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.” One of the town’s most popular bets these days is on the box-office prospects of “Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith.”

Executives at three major studios have organized informal office pools, where the closest prediction of the prequel’s four-day gross takes the pot. The buy-in for the Walt Disney pool is $25; the winner could pocket $500 for nailing the movie’s four-day total. Similar pools are being held at 20th Century Fox and Sony Pictures Entertainment.

A number of Internet gambling websites also are frantically handicapping the movie’s financial results. “May the cash be with you!” reads a banner ad for “Star Wars” betting on Intertops.com.

Internet bookmakers have had to adjust their odds as more bettors are guessing that the movie will break the opening three-day record of $114 million, set by 2002’s “Spider-Man.”

Alex Czajkowski, the marketing director for Sportsbook.com, said his gambling site likely had underestimated the film’s box-office gross. The Antigua-based site asked bettors to pick whether “Revenge of the Sith” would gross more than or less than $88.5 million in its first three days. The overwhelming majority of wagers went to the “over” side, he said. Without specifying a figure, Czajkowski said the site has taken tens of thousands of dollars of “Revenge of the Sith” bets.

The gambling website PinnacleSports.com offered 2-3 odds -- i.e., a $3 bet yields $2 in winnings -- that the movie would break “Spider-Man’s” three-day record.

“There’s tremendous interest in this movie,” said Simon Noble, a spokesman for the Internet operation.

“It’s a very popular bet,” Noble added, without disclosing how many bets the Curacao-based site had received. (All Internet gambling sites are located offshore, as placing or taking Internet wagers is prohibited in the United States.)

When it comes to handicapping bets, website oddsmakers and cyber bettors rely on much of the same data as their movie industry counterparts.

“When oddsmakers look at the movie, they take into account that it’s PG-13, how many screens it will open on, how many midnight showings it will have,” Noble said. “Our customers base their bets on early reviews and have read how many tickets are selling on [the ticket website] Fandango.”

Sue Schneider, the publisher of Interactive Gaming News, said the “novelty bet” genre -- which also includes online wagers about the outcome of reality TV shows and elections -- isn’t typically a big moneymaker for the gambling websites.

“They’re just kind of fun,” she said. “It’s not like betting on the Super Bowl.”

“The thing about betting on something like this is it isn’t about money,” Czajkowski said. “You’re making an emotional investment, getting closer to the event. You’ve got a vested interest in having it go your way.”

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Our film critics weigh in on all six “Star Wars” installments at calendarlive.com/starwars.