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13 Days of F13: ‘Friday the 13th’ Red Carpet Premiere, Your New Jason Talks!

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Beware of minor spoilers. We’ve got two pretty awesome pieces of video for you guys to nearly close off our 13 Days of Friday the 13th. First, if you click here you’ll find our exclusive video chat with the hilarious and extremely entertaining Derek Mears, who is your brand new Jason Voorhees. In addition, B-D contributor SpookyDan just uploaded his video report from the red carpet premiere of New Line Cinema’s Friday the 13th, which took place this past Monday at the Mann Chinese Theater in Hollywood, CA. You can also read a pretty funny story by reading beyond the break, courtesy of Spooky. Friday the 13th hits theaters everywhere tomorrow (watch three clips)!
13 Days of Friday the 13th

Friday the 13th Premiere: February 9, 2009Last night was the world premiere of the new (12th) entry in the Jason Voorhees Franchise. It was a star-studded event with most of the cast and filmmakers on hand to celebrate the opening of the film! But problems were had by many involved. Hundreds of fans were turned away at the door when they announced that they had given away all of the tickets the event, and troubles on the red carpet began almost as soon as the event started.

Let me explain how red carpets normally work. As a press member you check in, you get a tiny spot on the carpet to interview people or take pictures, normally you are so sandwiched in with other outlets that you end up pushing and shoving to get your interview. The celebs come out every couple of minutes and talk to as many outlets as possible. Often times if you are given a bad spot towards the end of the carpet, you may not get any interviews at all. It’s an ugly business when you are actually working on the carpet, but it’s our job… no biggie.

So the night gets a late start at checking everyone in, and the celebs arrive almost ALL at the same time, causing a traffic jam of stars and filmmakers. I watched many of the cast members just wander through the back because it was so disorganized. Our buddies at Dread Central were so pissed at their lousy location and the fact that they didn’t get tickets to the movie that they packed up their gear and went home. I tried to get tickets as well, but was not allowed (oh well).

Now here is where it gets good. The old guy standing next to me is with The Hollywood Reporter TV, an international video syndicator, (I will call him “Mr. Important”). He asks me what outlet I am with and I proudly tell him Bloody Disgusting, to which he replies “oh a dot-com!” in his most disapproving voice. But I try to blow it off and we chat briefly about horror as he tries to get me to spill Friday the 13th info – because he clearly has no clue about the franchise or the people involved (except for Michael Bay).

This guy explains to me how important his job is, because he feeds his video to many outlets around the world, but he isn’t really Hollywood Reporter the magazine. I have met one of his co-workers named Brooks in the past and he was super kick ass, so I think nothing of the demeaning way that he is talking down to me. Whatever, I am here to interview Derek Mears the actor playing Jason Voorhees (because he’s so awesome), everyone else I get to talk to is an awesome bonus, but really I want to talk with Derek. One after another the celebs walk up and I watch this guy take out a sheet of paper and read off his questions that make no sense at all to me or the cast members. “If Jason was chasing you how would you want to die?” But he is asking the cast who ARE chased by Jason and most of which do get killed by Jason. Then he asks each of them to show us their “Death Face”, a silly question that gets a few good responses. Then he asks non cast members “what brought them back to Crystal Lake?“… as if everyone on the red carpet is in the film. I listened to Kristina Kleibe (who starred in Rob Zombies Halloween, not Friday the 13th) get asked this. She plays it off, while giving me a look like “what the hell is this guy saying?

OK dumb questions are allowed, I know I have asked many during the interviews I have done. Suddenly Michael Bay shows up and starts his way towards us, our good pal Frosty with Collider.com snags him and milks a 5 or 6 minute interview with him! As he wraps up his interview, Bay’s handlers usher him off to get inside because the movie is about to start. Neither me, nor Mr. Important get any questions with Bay… but no biggie. I am happy for Frosty because he had told me that he REALLY wanted Bay, I just want Derek. Then all of the sudden the publicity crew grabs everyone off of the carpet and tells us time is up no more interviews; they have to start the movie. No Derek for Bloody Disgusting, and no anyone for many of the outlets that were further down the line.

We unhappily wrap up and start putting our gear away, I high-five Frosty for getting a great interview with Bay (it’s available here). Then unexpectedly Mr. Important (Hollywood Reporter TV) slams his fist down on the partitioning gate and starts throwing a temper tantrum that would make any 4-year-old jealous! He starts yelling, “these goddamned dot-coms get the interviews and they don’t even matter! Who the hell do they think they are getting in my way! We (Hollywood Reporter TV) are way more important and these guys shouldn’t even be allowed on the carpet!” I am quoting him verbatim; I only wish we still had our cameras rolling! I swear I thought he was going to punch a hole in his assistant and/or start crying. It was seriously like watching a little kid not getting a toy at Toys R Us.

As I leave I see Jason mask that had fallen off the wall and onto the ground, they had many of them as a backdrop (as you can see), and as I pick it up I get yelled at by some guy who tells me to give it back! On my way out I pass the check in table where there is a big pile of parking validation passes that they had been giving out to people on the way in, so thinking I must have missed mine, I ask if I can grab one and save the $2 buck on parking. The girl at the table politely tell me “NO you are JUST press.

…and Bloody Disgusting gets specifical treatment my ass.

I love my job. Even though tonight was a pain, the movie IS really good, I saw it a couple weeks back and really enjoyed it!

Friday the 13th Premiere: February 9, 2009

Movies

‘Abigail’ on Track for a Better Opening Weekend Than Universal’s Previous Two Vampire Attempts

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In the wake of Leigh Whannell’s Invisible Man back in 2020, Universal has been struggling to achieve further box office success with their Universal Monsters brand. Even in the early days of the pandemic, Invisible Man scared up $144 million at the worldwide box office, while last year’s Universal Monsters: Dracula movies The Last Voyage of the Demeter and Renfield didn’t even approach that number when you COMBINE their individual box office hauls.

The horror-comedy Renfield came along first in April 2023, ending its run with just $26 million. The period piece Last Voyage of the Demeter ended its own run with a mere $21 million.

But Universal is trying again with their ballerina vampire movie Abigail this weekend, the latest bloodbath directed by the filmmakers known as Radio Silence (Ready or Not, Scream).

Unlike Demeter and Renfield, the early reviews for Abigail are incredibly strong, with our own Meagan Navarro calling the film “savagely inventive in terms of its vampiric gore,” ultimately “offering a thrill ride with sharp, pointy teeth.” Read her full review here.

That early buzz – coupled with some excellent trailers – should drive Abigail to moderate box office success, the film already scaring up $1 million in Thursday previews last night. Variety notes that Abigail is currently on track to enjoy a $12 million – $15 million opening weekend, which would smash Renfield ($8 million) and Demeter’s ($6 million) opening weekends.

Working to Abigail‘s advantage is the film’s reported $28 million production budget, making it a more affordable box office bet for Universal than the two aforementioned movies.

Stay tuned for more box office reporting in the coming days.

In Abigail, “After a group of would-be criminals kidnap the 12-year-old ballerina daughter of a powerful underworld figure, all they have to do to collect a $50 million ransom is watch the girl overnight. In an isolated mansion, the captors start to dwindle, one by one, and they discover, to their mounting horror, that they’re locked inside with no normal little girl.”

Abigail Melissa Barrera movie

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