While I wish MY company was releasing the film, I will be happy for New Line/WB’s success. They brought back one of my favorite slasher icons and gave the fans the respect we all deserved by doing right by the source material.

My friend at WB said the testing went extremely well and expects positive notices from fans. But this movie is also critic proof as folks are going to seek it out any way.

I am pumped to see this.

like mentioned before if paul blart can make 30something million opening weekend F13 has NOTHING to worry about

I’m actually with you – I prefer no talking, and no explanation. I think that’s why Halloween turned to crap, too. It went from “an escaped mental patient stalking a babysitter” to “an underground Druid cult keeping Michael alive so he can strike whenever a certain constellation appears in the night sky”. These hack sequel writers think some huge explanation is really smart. What they don’t understand is that you can’t apply logic or reason to a psychopath who operates outside the realm of logic and reason.

Personally, considering where each franchise was at, I liked the way they combined the storylines in Freddy Vs. Jason, even though it wasn’t scary at all. But I think it’s also worth noting that a HUGE part of the reason why I liked the film was the fact that it had decent characters played by decent actors. I don’t care how fast Jason saunters in part 8 or Jason X – the characters weren’t interesting, their dialogue was really weak, and the actors playing them were substandard. I hadn’t liked a heroine like Lori in FvJ since maybe Tina in The New Blood.

However, if it had been earlier, scarier versions of Freddy and Jason, back when even Freddy didn’t say much, I think we’d agree that it would have been a MUCH better (certainly much scarier) film.

yes, jason stopped running after his resurrection but he is still swift in part 6 & 7…he ALWAYS remained brutal and always used unique objects to kill. in fvj his is like a george romero zombie, his eyes are glazed over and he limps around…there is NO friday entry where he does that, even part 8 or JasonX where he’s at his slowest. PLUS 90% of the jason kills in fvj are standard machete slashing, whereas in any friday entry (pick any one) they are loaded up with a bunch of creative kills and just a couple or the final chase scene has the machete.

as for the writing getting bad in later entries, we’re all with you on that. that doesn’t make it okay for Yu to make a crappy movie. if any of us complain, it’s because with each entry we hope for someone to turn it around and do a good job. we WANT to be scared by jason. we WANT him to be mean, aggressive, and intimidating. for a face-off that was 20 years in the making, a face-off between the most notorious slasher villians of all time, i expect greatness. i demand it. and for someone to take those characters and expand on and overemphasize the things that have come to SUCK about them, rather than the good things that made them famous in the first place, it’s just a disgrace. Yu blows.

US box office – $82,622,655

Opening weekend – $36,428,066

Opened on 3,014 screens

Rank Title Total Gross Date Avg ticket price Att
1 Friday the 13th $39,754,601 5/9/80 2.69 14,778,662
2 Friday the 13th Part 3 $36,690,067 8/13/82 2.94 12,479,614
3 Friday the 13th Part 4 $32,980,880 4/13/84 3.36 9,815,738
4 Friday the 13th Part V $21,930,418 3/22/85 3.55 6,177,582
5 Friday the 13th Part 2 $21,722,776 4/30/81 2.78 7,813,948
6 Friday the 13th Part VI $19,472,057 8/1/86 3.71 5,248,532
7 Friday the 13th Part VII $19,170,001 5/13/88 4.41 4,346,939
8 Jason Goes to Hell 15,935,068 8/13/93 4.14 3,849,050
9 Friday the 13th Part VIII $14,343,976 7/28/89 3.99 3,594,981
10 Jason X $13,121,555 4/26/02 5.80 2,262,337

Average U.S. Ticket Prices
http://www.natoonline.org/statisticstickets.htm

Year
Price
2008 $7.18
2007 6.88
2006 6.55
2005 6.41
2004 6.21
2003 6.03
2002 5.80
2001 5.65
2000 5.39
1999 5.06
1998 4.69
1997 4.59
1996 4.42
1995 4.35
1994 4.08
1993 4.14
1992 4.15
1991 4.21
1990 4.22
1989* 3.99
1988 4.11
1987 3.91
1986 3.71
1985 3.55
1984 3.36
1983 3.15
1982 2.94
1981 2.78
1980 2.69
1979 2.47
1978 2.34
1977 2.23
1976 2.13
1975 2.03
1974 1.89
1971 1.65
1967 1.22
1963 .86
1958 .68
1954 .49
1948 .36

*1989 and laterfigures based on Ernst & Young survey; previous years based on CPI-W index

As for the Saw franchise, i think its enjoyable but theres too much gore. I like horror movies with the feel as if YOU are being stalked by the killer (like Friday the 13th).

I have definitely been doing my part in shamelessly promoting this movie to every human being I come in contact with. You would think I was part owner of Platinum Dunes haha!

Plus, Elm Street has more of a mythology attached to it, what with the idea that Freddy thrives off of fear. By the time FvJ was made, Jason was a mindless killing machine who had abandoned the will to run, or even walk quickly. So I don’t blame the writers or Ronny Yu. I blame the slowing-down of Jason (starting around part 6) and the dumbing-down of Friday writing (starting around part 7 – telekinesis? Really?).

By the time Yu got his hands on Jason, Jason could teleport around New York City alleys, possess anyone nearby, and travel in space. What the hell was he supposed to do? I’m actually grateful the writers did their homework and got back to the Friday roots, working in some of the old Crystal Lake drowning mythology and Pamela Voorhees, which hadn’t been done in quite some time. There were some really poorly executed nods to that stuff in part 8 (Renny and her swimming lessons… ugh…) and Jason X (the holodeck), but they were disjointed from the plot and didn’t really factor into the outcome of the story the way they did in FvJ. The problem is that back in part 2 when Jason was still hearing Pamela in his head saying, “Get her, Mommy, get her,” he was STILL SCARY. But in FvJ, now that Jason was slow and lumbering, when you bring back the Pamela stuff, he just looks like a big oversized momma’s boy who’s afraid to swim.

Nevertheless, Kirzinger still looked a lot better as Jason. Hodder in Jason X constantly looked like he had a pillow stuffed down the front of his shirt. Can you imagine Hodder’s Jason running, like parts 3 or 4? It would be comical. Think Jason on “The Biggest Loser.”

The real missed opportunity with FvJ is the fact that it could have been Freddy from Elm Street 1 or 2 versus Jason from part 3 or 4. Instead, both characters had devolved beyond any hint of real terror, and I blame the writers of the previous sequels for that. Yu and company just did the best with what they had to work with.