The Cabin in the Woods

SATURDAY PM/SUNDAY AM, 5TH UPDATE: Overall the North American weekend looks to be down around -11% from last year which may make Hollywood nervous going into the all-important summer movie season starting in May after a super-heated 2012 first quarter. The difference in this weekend’s close finishes were a matter of MPAA ratings and theater counts with 22% of K-12 out of school Friday. Lionsgate’s PG13-rated The Hunger Games scored the most locations in the U.S. and Canada this weekend and beat its domestic competition for the 4th straight weekend. As of Sunday morning, its global cume is now a gargantuan $500+ million! Fox received its hoped-for Friday (#1 after matinees) and Saturday (+24%) family fare bumps for the Farrelly Brothers’ PG-rated The Three Stooges, which played in more runs than Lionsgate’s R-rated The Cabin In The Woods. Interesting to note that both Stooges and Cabin were greenlit by then MGM production chief Mary Parent — and then taken over by other studios when MGM couldn’t handle its debt load. CinemaScores were as follows: Fox’s The Three Stooges ‘B-’ (‘A’ from audiences under 18, ‘C’ from 25 and older), Lionsgate’s The Cabin In The Woods ‘C’ (‘D+’ from females), FilmDistrict’s Lockout ‘B-’. Interesting how the Stooges reviews were better than expected, especially from top-end critics who found genius in that silliness. But not as good as Joss Whedon’s horror pic which received truly stellar reviews, including 93% positive on Rotten Tomatoes.