entertainmentdissected

Michael Myers and Death face off yet again this weekend- but this time, it’s box office bragging rights at stake.

Rob Zombie’s Halloween II and the fourth installment of the Final Destination series- titled The Final Destination- both opened in more than 3,000 theaters each on Friday and may be neck-and-neck for the top position at the domestic box office. The Final Destination may have a slight advantage, though, as it’s also available in 3D format at select theaters; this means higher ticket prices and grosses from such outlets.

Whoever wins the battle, given the history of horror franchises and their reluctance to retire any moneymaking franchise, it may not be the final destination for the cheating-death series, or the end of Michael Myers and All Saints Eve. Ads tout the latter as the final chapter in Zombie’s “terrifying vision,” but recall that he expressed no interest in directing a sequel to his $55 million re-imagining of John Carpenter’s classic- and we know how that turned out. Even if Halloween II does not fare as well as its predecessor, it still likely will end up as a profitable venture.

In turn, if The Final Destination manages a decent gross, is there any doubt New Line will find a way to have Death make a shocking return? The three Final Destination movies each grossed between $46.96 million and $54.1 million, and the latest should have no trouble crossing $40 million (with potentially half of that coming in the first weekend alone).

Of note is that neither New Line or Dimension screened The Final Destination and Halloween II for critics, with Dimension claiming it was “holding the suspense for the opening.” Translated, that means the studio wanted to avoid confronting the inevitably bad negative reviews that come with the territory for these kinds of flicks.

So, who are you rooting for in this box office showdown? Or are you in a neutral corner? That may be the best option, when considering these two forces of horrific evil…

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