What a Valentine’s gift for movie theaters: a huge $168.12 million weekend… the biggest so far this year… $27 million more than last year’s Valentine’s weekend… and a 28% increase from last weekend.

And it wasn’t even close… with the remake “Friday the 13th” taking in more ($42 million) than the second and third place movies combined, the slasher movie also becomes the biggest opening of the year, passing “Paul Blart: Mall Cop”’s $31 million opening in January. 

Last week’s number one “He’s Just Not That Into You” slipped to second and new movies “Confessions of A Shopaholic” and “The International” opened in fourth and seventh place.

 TOP MOVIES AT WEEKEND BOX OFFICE (estimated results):
1. “Friday the 13th” (2009) – $42.25 million (1st week)

2. “He’s Just Not That Into You” – $19.61 million
(2nd week, was #1 last week, lost 29% from last week)

3. “Taken” – $19.25 million
(3rd week, was #2 last week, lost 6% from last week)

4. “Confessions of A Shopaholic” – $15.41 million (1st week)

5. “Coraline” – $15.32 million
(2nd week, was #3 last week, lost 9% from last week)

6. “Paul Blart: Mall Cop” - $11.70 million
(5th week, was #5 last week, gained 7% more than last week)

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In a wise marketing release, the ensemble romantic comedy “He’s Just Not That Into You” grabs the number one spot one week before Valentine’s Day. 
The four new movies and holdovers “Taken” and “Paul Blart: Mall Cop” helped make it a strong $131.54 million weekend at the box office… the 3rd biggest of the year so far and it was up nearly 28% from last weekend.

 TOP MOVIES AT WEEKEND BOX OFFICE (estimated results):
1. “He’s Just Not That Into You” – $27.47 million (1st week)

2. “Taken” – $24.63 million
(2nd week, was #1 last week, lost 18% from last week)

3. “Coraline” – $16.34 million (1st week)

4. “The Pink Panther 2″ - $12.00 million (1st week)

5. “Paul Blart: Mall Cop” - $11.00 million
(4th week, was #2 last week, lost 21% from last week)

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New at Theaters (Friday): “Coraline”, “He’s Just Not That Into You”, “Pink Panther 2″, “Push”

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BEST BET: Depends on what kind of movie you’re looking for.  If its a date movie, see “He’s Just Not That Into You” – or wait until next week for Valentine’s Day.  If its an action movie, “Push” may or may not be what you’re looking for, and if its a family movie, the jury’s out on “Coraline” vs. “Pink Panther 2″.

New on DVD (Tuesday): “Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa”, “The Secret Life of Bees”, “Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist”, “Zack and Miri Make a Porno”, “Bottle Shock”, “Space Buddies”

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BEST BETs: Another week of solid DVD releases, “The Secret Life of Bees” is the most critically acclaimed of the five, but “Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist” got pretty good reviews, and ”Bottle Shock” was compared to the popular “Sideways” (2004)… and for families “Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa” was very well received at the box office.

MY REVIEWS OF OTHER MOVIES CURRENTLY PLAYING IN THEATERS OR AVAILABLE TO RENT: 

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