The box office contest each week is getting more and more aggressive as new films of high quality enter the marketplace. Last week saw both The Social Network and Let Me In (two of the year's best) duke it out for number one, with the former taking the top spot easily, and the latter not finding much love at all (which is a shame because it really is this year's best horror movie so far). Not surprisingly, October will see a lot of scary movies hit theaters, and this upcoming weekend is no exception. Wes Craven (Scream, A Nightmare on Elm Street) debuts his latest, while a baby rom-com and an uplifting horse flick all launch attacks against that Facebook movie in the hopes of becoming this week's box office champion. Let's take a look at the new competition:
What's the Scoop: Katherine Heigl and Josh Duhamel star as two extreme opposites who despise one another, but are brought together when their mutual friends die in an accident and name them as the guardians of their baby. Insert a few poop jokes and a montage of them falling in love, and you've got yourself a movie!
Why It Might Win the Weekend: You have to admit the trailers are cute and funny at times, but this may not be the perfect date movie for those who don't want to think about having kids for a good while. Thus, it will be competing pretty strongly against our next film for a similar audience.
What's the Scoop: Diane Lane stars as real-life horse owner Penny Chenery, who, in 1973, watched her horse Secretariat win the Triple Crown.
Why It Might Win the Weekend: Uplifting sports-related stories tend to do pretty well, and it's pretty obvious they're trying to go for what we call "The Blind Side Effect," with the pretty female in a role usually taken on by men, etc. … Plus, who doesn't like horses?
What's the Scoop: A serial killer returns to his hometown after a bunch of teenagers apparently bring him back from the grave on his birthday.
Why It Might Win the Weekend: With Wes Craven at the helm, it's hard to absolutely ignore this film, especially since Craven is responsible for some of our all-time favorite horror movies.
My Prediction: I'm of the belief that The Social Network will be riding high off last week's opening weekend buzz, giving it one more weekend up at the top of the box office chart. If it fails, look for Life as We Know It to slide in there with a win.
Now it's your turn – which film do you think will win the weekend at the box office?
Erik is a leading movie commentator who has worked for outlets such as AOL Moviefone and Movies.com.
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