New at BOP: Review: Matrix Resurrections Movie Review: Moonfall Movie Reviews: Scream The #1 Movie in America November Forecast The Many Saints of Newark October Forecast New Trivia Question All site updates Share & Save   Tweet Print this column

Jason just totally killed Jigsaw

Kim Hollis: Friday the 13th became the biggest horror opening of all-time with a $42.2 million three-day total against a production budget of $16 million. How did Warner Bros. pull this off?

Tim Briody: They lucked out with the calendar. And even though horror is so tired these days, there was enough nostalgia for a nearly 30-year-old franchise that it clearly drew a few folks who grew up with the original films.

Pete Kilmer: I don't know if it was so much nostalgia for it as more a recognition of the name brand. Let's face it, the VHS tapes and DVDs of the original series have been sitting on dusty Blockbuster shelves ever since the that store franchise started and little kids saw them throughout the years. Cut to 2009 and here's the new version...plus, it's a great date movie!





Brandon Scott: People never fail to amaze me by turning out for this sort of thing. I honestly have no idea how this happened. I mean, tired concept, old re-hashed name, the umpteenth horror movie this year already...what is fresh and exciting about this title? I remain oblivious as to how they pulled this off.

Shane Jenkins: Okay, I'm one of the contributors to this box office haul, so I can tell you this: it was an event. Like Cloverfield last year, the theater was packed with young people (and me *sigh*) ready to be scared in a safe environment and scream with their friends. The show I was at even had a seven foot tall guy in full Jason regalia chasing screaming girls around the lobby. It almost seemed like a holiday, and oh man, is it ever going to drop like a ton of bricks next week when the opening weekend party is over.

Jim Van Nest: For some reason right now, you can take just about any old slasher flick, update it, call it a re-make and people will turn out. My Bloody Valentine opens over $20 million...and it was one of the more fringe titles in the '80s. Same goes for Prom Night. When Rob Zombie decided to reboot the Halloween series, he opened it to $26 million. Friday the 13th is arguably the grand-daddy of all the slasher flicks of the late '70s and early '80s. It only stands to reason that a film marketed as a re-make would this kind of cash. The thing that pisses me off (as a fan of the franchise) is that this really ISN'T a remake...it's little more than Jason 11 (or 12, if you count Freddy vs. Jason). But if they called it Jason 11...it would have opened a lot like Jason 10 - $6 million with a $13 million final take. I put a HUGE chunk of this opening directly in the hands of whoever decided to call this a re-make/re-boot rather than the sequel it actually is.

David Mumpower: I feel it's important that we give credit where it's due here. Michael Bay, for all of his failures as a content creator, is an entrepreneurial genius. He understands what will sell independent of quality, making him cinema's finest used car dealer. When the writer's strike ended, he got his people in a room and he had them evaluate the opportunities for taking advantage of the movie vacuum. Re-making Friday the 13th is a masterstroke of short term commerce. The movie is already dead at the box office after only four days, but it virtually re-made its budget within 24 hours. They made the most tired and over-saturated of products feel new and fresh, even if it was just for a day. For that, they are to be commended and people like Shane who enabled this madness are to be spit upon.

Continued:       1       2       3