It’s a showdown of the ‘80s remakes this week at the box office, with two popular films from that decade getting modern-day facelifts in the hopes of taking down the giant boxing robots that stand in their way. Also: a bird-watching comedy. Yay! Let’s take a closer look …

 
What’s the Scoop: If you’re familiar with the 1984 version, then you already know the drill. The kids of a small town look to a hip city kid to help overturn a new law that bans dancing. Cue awesome movie soundtrack and hot dirty dancing.
 
Why It Might Win the Weekend: Go ahead, I dare you to try to take your eyes off star Julianne Hough. Try it. You can’t do it! She’s irresistible in this film, luring folks into theaters with those sexy curves, intense stare and fantastic dance moves. Oh yeah, it’s definitely time to cut loose …
 
 
What’s the Scoop: This remake/prequel is somewhat based on the 1982 John Carpenter classic about a group of researchers whose discovery of an alien leads to all sorts of bad things.
 
Why It Might Win the Weekend: It’s October, which means folks are itching to get their scare on. This freaky little alien flick might just do the trick, especially for those fans of the 1982 movie.
 
 
What’s the Scoop: The comedic stylings of Steve Martin, Owen Wilson and Jack Black combine to form this film from director David Frankel (The Devil Wears Prada) about three avid bird watchers who compete to spot the rarest birds at an annual bird-watching event.
 
Why It Might Win the Weekend: The lack of publicity won’t help it, but you can’t ignore this trio, all of whom know a thing or two about making people laugh.
 
My Prediction: It’s hard to bet against Real Steel after it had such a good weekend at the box office last week, but I’d like to try to throw some love at this Footloose remake. I think folks are in the mood to cut loose, so we’ll go with that for the win.
 
My Pick of the Week: Those looking for some bizarre psycho-sexual thrills will find them in Pedro Almodovar’s The Skin I Live In (playing in limited release), though I also want to promote Footloose as being the kind of remake that actually gets it right. See either one and you should walk away satisfied.
 
Now it’s your turn to let us know which film you think will win the weekend box office …