Weekend Box Office: Good Luck for “Thirteenth”

Everybody loves a guy in a hockey mask. 

Take a well-known horror brand-name, give it a new, shiny coat of blood, mix it with a winter weekend and a release date that advertises the name of the movie, and what do you get? A number one spot for the “Friday the 13th” reboot. Here are the numbers, courtesy of Variety.

A long weekend didn’t hurt either. I never had any doubts that Jason would return and slay the box-office; there was just too much curiosity about the movie for it to fail. Hey, it gives the people what they want–a whole movie filled with actual Jason-in-the-hockey mask action, as opposed to the original in which he just makes a cameo. The movie has taken over the top spot for best opening ever by a horror movie.

Undoubtedly Paramount would have liked to see their new release, “Confessions of a Shopaholic” in that second place spot instead of “He’s Just Not That Into You.” But even with a built in audience (presumably) of fans of the book on which it is based, “Shopaholic” didn’t seem to be the Valentine weekend film of choice for the female audience it’s aimed at. There was a weird competitive feeling to these two movies, kind of like some disembodied marketing voice was saying, “You don’t have a date on Valentine’s weekend, would you rather see a movie about how hard it is find someone or seek diversion in excess shopping?” Apparently many women chose the “See? Even pretty movie stars can’t figure out how to date!” route. Third place film, “Taken” feels like a compromise candidate.

“The International” did poorly with it’s seventh place finish. No doubt those producers are wondering, “Hey…what does Liam Neeson have that Clive Owen doesn’t?” Probably a lack of bad banker talk, something everyone’s sick of.

Next weekend, we’ll see how these hang on, but the real event is the Oscars, of course. The “Friday the 13th” crowd always stays home for those, of course.