Friday the 13th’s Lucky Number Was $42.2 Million

Friday the 13th promised a high body count. It delivered.

The franchise reboot has packed theaters like no other this President’s Day weekend, scoring an estimated $42.2 million from Friday to Sunday. Final numbers and standings will be out tomorrow.

Elsewhere, Confessions of a Shopaholic ($15.4 million) looks to do no better than a fourth-place debut, while Joaquin Phoenix looks to finish off his movie career on a high note, the David Letterman, gum-chewing thing notwithstanding.

Drilling down into the numbers:

• Friday the 13th is the 12th entry in the psycho-killer franchise. And, as of today, it’s the series’ biggest-debuting movie, besting the $36.4 million posted by the Nightmare on Elm Street-associated Freddy vs. Jason in 2003.

• Friday the 13th made so much money, so fast, it had its $16 million budget covered before the close of business on Friday, when it took in $19.3 million.

• By Monday, Friday the 13th should not be far off from matching the five-weekend haul of My Bloody Valentine ($50.9 million)—and doing so without the gimmick or higher ticket prices of 3-D.

• No, Confessions of a Shopaholic and The International ($10 million) weren’t big shiny hits, but they weren’t big deadly bombs, either. They were among seven movies that put up eight-figure grosses. Thanks to the group effort, Exhibitor Relations said this weekend should go down as one of Hollywood’s 10 biggest ever. (And that’s only counting Friday-Sunday, not Friday-Monday.)

• As a romantic comedy based on a best-seller, Shopaholic shares a fancy lineage with The Devil Wears Prada ($27.5 million debut), but it most resembles a regular, old Made of Honor ($14.8 million debut).

• Movie attendance is no longer on the uptick. It’s on the full-fledged upswing. Through the first seven weekends of this year, ticket sales are running 11.4 percent ahead of 2008, per Exhibitor Relations, while attendance is up nearly 10 percent.

• Paul Blart: Mall Cop ($11.7 million), Hollywood’s leading economic stimulus package, hit $110.5 million overall, and became the first January release to ever cross the $100 million mark, its studio said.

• He’s Just Not That Into You ($19.6 million) slipped to second, but saw ticket sales drop only 30 percent from last weekend. Liam Neeson’s Taken ($19.3 million) slipped to third, but saw business drop barely at all—just 6 percent.

• Coraline ($15 million) also held well, down just 11 percent from last weekend.

• If any movie that doesn’t drop by 50 percent or more holds well, then, yes, The Pink Panther 2 ($9 million) held well. (It was down 22 percent.) And thus concludes the good news for the $22.3 million-grossing underperformer.

• Friday the 13th is boasting the weekend’s biggest per-screen average ($13,605). Joaquin Phoenix’s and Gwyneth Paltrow’s Two Lovers is boasting the second-biggest ($13,571). The art-house drama made $95,000 overall at seven theaters.

• The IMAX nature movie Under the Sea was another star in limited release, grossing $650,000 at 49 theaters.

• Clint Eastwood’s Gran Torino ($6.8 million) exits the Top 10 after a five-weekend run (it’s been out 10 weekends altogether) and a whopping $128.9 million gross.

Here’s a recap of the President’s Day weekend’s top-grossing films based on Friday-Sunday estimates from Exhibitor Relations:

Friday the 13th, $42.2 million

He’s Just Not That Into You, $19.6 million

Taken, $19.3 million
Confessions of a Shopaholic, $15.4 million
Coraline, $15 million
Paul Blart: Mall Cop, $11.7 million
The International, 10 million
The Pink Panther 2, $9 million
Slumdog Millionaire, $7.2 million
Push, $6.9 million