Ranking the Friday 13th films according to Rotten Tomatoes & Box Office Mojo

Let’s talk Friday the 13th.

Below are two lists; one looks at the critical reception of the Friday the 13th franchise according to the ratings on Rotten Tomatoes, whilst the other looks at the box office results according to Box Office Mojo.

Using the information I’m providing two sets of rankings. But will you agree with the results?

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The Rotten Tomatoes rankings for all 12 Friday the 13^th films

• 1) Friday the 13^th (1980) 63%
• 2) Friday the 13^th Part VI – Jason Lives (1986) 52%
• 3) Freddy vs. Jason (2003) 41%
• 4) Friday the 13^th Part VII – The New Blood (1988) 32%
• 5) Friday the 13^th Part 2 (1981) 28%
• 6) Friday 13^th (2009) 26%
• 7) Jason Goes to Hell –The Final Friday (1993) 24%
• 8) Friday the 13^th – The Final Chapter (1984) 20%
• -) Jason X (2002) 20%
• 9) Friday the 13^th Part V – A New Beginning (1985) 16%
• 10) Friday the 13^th Part 3 (1982) 12%
• 11) Friday the 13^th Part VIII – Jason Takes Manhattan (1989) 8%

So, according to Rotten Tomatoes, the original Friday the 13th is the best ‘Friday’ movie, while Part VI and Freddy vs. Jason also rank quite high.

At the bottom of the list is Friday the 13th Part VIII – Jason Takes Manhattan, which is ranked the worst, with Part 3 not far behind.

Do you agree/disagree with this?

I’ll be honest, I’m surprised Friday the 13th Part 3 isn’t higher, simply because it was the first film to introduce Jason’s iconic hockey mask. Personally, I would have liked to see Jason X appear a little higher, although I’m not surprised it only has a rating of 20%.

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OK, so let’s move onto the financial success of the movies, according to Box Office Mojo.

Now at this point I must point out that Box Office Mojo doesn’t have a record of the worldwide figures for older films – including most of the films in the ‘Friday‘ series. So while this list counts the overall box office returns for the films, some of the totals are the domestic results only.

The financial rankings for all 12 Friday the 13^th films

• 1) Freddy vs. Jason (2003) $114,908,8830
• 2) Friday 13^th (2009) $91,379,051
• 3) Friday the 13^th (1980) $39,754,601
• 4) Friday the 13^th Part 3 (1982) $36,690,067
• 5) Friday the 13^th – The Final Chapter (1984) $32,980,880
• 6) Friday the 13^th Part V – A New Beginning (1985) $21,930,418
• 7) Friday the 13^th Part 2 (1981) $21,722,776
• 8) Friday the 13^th Part VI – Jason Lives (1986) $19,472,057
• 9) Friday the 13^th Part VII – The New Blood (1988) $19,170,001
• 10) Jason X (2002) $16,951,798
• 11) Jason Goes to Hell –The Final Friday (1993) $15,935,068
• 12) Friday the 13^th Part VIII – Jason Takes Manhattan (1989) $14,343,976

As you can see, Friday the 13^th Part VIII – Jason Takes Manhattan is at the bottom of the list again. This time around, Freddy Vs. Jason is at the top of the charts, which doesn’t surprise me at all as the movie combines two horror franchises – Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street.

What’s perhaps most interesting about this list is the fact that the original movies (with a few exceptions) drop off in value in descending order. The law of diminishing returns was clearly in effect when the series was at its production peak (1980-1988).

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Ranking recap

Critical reception

• Best: Friday the 13^th
• Worst: Friday the 13^th Part VIII – Jason Takes Manhattan

Financial reception

• Best: Freddy Vs. Jason
• Worst: Friday the 13^th Part VIII – Jason Takes Manhattan

I think we have a clear winner when it comes to the worst film in the series.

What are your thoughts? Do these lists provide a fair representation of the series or are they way off?

Sound off in the comments section below.

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