Weekend Box Office Report: February 13 to February 15: For Love and Horror

You would never know there was an economic crisis going on
if you just looked at this year’s box office results. For the second week in a row, the highest drop off was just
over 30% and that wasn’t even for the critically lambasted Pink Panther 2. No, there was plenty to celebrate this
weekend with Valentine’s Day falling on the biggest date night of the week and Friday the 13th returning to theatres just in time to have the
release day coincide with the film’s title.

When the original Friday the 13th opened in 1980,
it cumed about $6 million and went on to take in a total of just under $40
million.  This was big back
then.  Oh how far we have come as
this latest relaunch of a franchise has amassed more than that in just one
weekend.  I’m sure once you take
inflation into consideration, the original still has a lead but it won’t for
long.  Not only did this new
installment debut on Friday the 13th to the best opening day of the
year, it also had the added benefit of coming out in time for Valentine’s
Day.  Horror and comedy are the top
favorite genres of couple on dates so it is no shocker to see this kind of
response.

Keeping that in mind, it is also no surprise to see last
week’s champ, He’s Just Not That Into You, hold on so strongly with just a 29%
decline.  In fact, its hold could
account for the mediocre debut of Confessions of a Shopaholic.  The “Shopaholic” series by author,
Sophie Kinsella, is immensely popular, much more so that the “He’s Just Not
That Into You” book, but yet could not compete with the latter’s star
power.  Also, it might have hurt
its chances given that spending irresponsibly is really not the direction the
country is going in.

Tom Tykwer’s bid at the mainstream, The International, had
to settle for a 7^th place start.  Tykwer, famous for his cult classic, Run Lola Run, put
together a stylish thriller with top-notch actors (Clive Owen and Naomi Watts)
but an overcomplicated plot bogged it down.  Also, viewers might want to deal with the idea of corrupt
banks just as much as foolish shopping habits.  No, what viewers want these days is leftovers as both Coraline and Taken saw declines under 10%.  This kind of staying power is practically unheard of.

It’s the week before Oscar and all through the house, not
creature was stirring except for Slumdog Millionaire.  The front-runner for Best Picture is the only one out of the
five nominees to place in the Top 10 this year.  Clearly people are clamoring to see it before the big event
as they assume it will inevitably be crowned king dog.  The rest of the nominees fall in the
following order: The Reader ($2 million, down 10%), The Curious Case of Benjamin Button ($1.6 million, down 30%), Milk ($816K, down 27.5%) and Frost/Nixon ($473K, down 39%).  Meanwhile, Oscar hopeful in the Foreign Language category,The Class,
continued to play well in limited release, pulling in $222K, for an increase of
23.5% over last week.  

NEXT WEEK: I highly recommend you catch up on your Oscar
pics as there certainly isn’t anything worth seeing in first run.  Well, if you like teen comedies about
jocks joining the cheerleading squad to score, you could see Fired Up.  Or if you like men in grandmother drag
placed in awkward scenarios, you could check out Tyler Perry’s Madea Goes to Jail.  I told you you’d want to
stay home.

Weekend Top 10