Friday the 13th nails No. 1 spot with $42.2 million

By DAVID GERMAIN
AP Movie Writer

LOS ANGELES — "Friday the 13th" had all the luck as the remake of the  
1980 slasher flick opened with $42.2 million, putting blood and guts  
ahead of hearts over Valentine's Day weekend.
That was a record for the horror genre, topping the $39.1 million  
debut for 2004's "The Grudge." Accounting for today's higher  
admission prices, "The Grudge" sold slightly more tickets, however.
Released by the Warner Bros. banner New Line Cinema, "Friday the  
13th" updates the grisly story of killer Jason Voorhees and his  
rampage among youths at a secluded summer camp.
On opening day — which fell on Friday the 13th — the remake pulled in  
$19.4 million, slightly more than the $19 million it cost to make the  
movie.
"It's a great title, and it was a great weekend to open. We had  
Friday the 13th and Valentine's Day," said Dan Fellman, head of  
distribution for Warner Bros. "I've seen it play a number of times,  
and the audience is with it the whole way. A lot of screams and a lot  
of laughs."
The "Friday the 13th" series has been one of the most-enduring horror  
franchises, spawning 10 sequels, including the crossover grudge match  
"Freddy Vs. Jason," pitting Voorhees against the boogeyman from "A  
Nightmare on Elm Street."
The movie bumped off the previous weekend's top earner, the Warner- 
New Line romance "He's Just Not That Into You," which fell to second- 
place but held up strongly over Valentine's weekend with $19.6  
million, according to studio estimates Sunday.
Among other new movies, Disney's comedy "Confessions of a Shopaholic"  
landed in fourth-place with $15.4 million, while Sony's thriller "The  
International" is No. 7 with $10 million.
"Confessions of a Shopaholic" stars Isla Fisher as a magazine retail  
writer coping with her own compulsive buying habits. "The  
International" features Clive Owen as an Interpol agent and Naomi  
Watts as a prosecutor uncovering a bank's global misdeeds.
The combination of solid debuts and strong holdovers lifted Hollywood  
to its best President's Day weekend ever. The three-day overall total  
of $190 million blew away the previous best of $157.1 million over  
President's Day weekend in 2007, according to box-office tracker  
Media By Numbers.
For the year, revenues continue to soar, with revenue at $1.44  
billion, up 22 percent through the same point in 2008. Factoring in  
2009's higher ticket prices, movie attendance is running 20 percent  
higher than last year's.
"Hollywood seems to be unstoppable right now. With this notion of the  
recession helping the box office, I guess this is just another  
example of that," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Media By  
Numbers. "People want to go to the movies and just have fun and  
escape. 'Friday the 13th,' as scary as your mortgage banker is,  
Jason's scarier."
Academy Awards front-runner "Slumdog Millionaire" heads into Oscar  
weekend with sturdy box-office momentum. The Fox Searchlight release  
took in $7.2 million, raising its 14-week total to $86.5 million.
"Slumdog Millionaire" has dominated at earlier Hollywood honors and  
is considered the likely best-picture winner at next Sunday's Oscars.
"The awareness for the film just keeps increasing every week," said  
Richard Shamban, vice president of distribution for Fox Searchlight.  
"The publicity from the awards themselves will continue to help, win  
or lose."
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian  
theaters, according to Media By Numbers LLC. Final figures will be  
released Monday.
1. "Friday the 13th," $42.2 million.
2. "He's Just Not That Into You," $19.6 million.
3. "Taken," $19.3 million.
4. "Confessions of a Shopaholic," $15.4 million.
5. "Coraline," $15.3 million.
6. "Paul Blart: Mall Cop," $11.7 million.
7. "The International," $10 million.
8. "The Pink Panther 2," $9 million.
9. "Slumdog Millionaire," $7.2 million.
10. "Push," $6.9 million.