Is This the Worst Movie Weekend of 2010? Vulture Investigates

Planning a trip to the cinema this weekend? It’s the end of August and Hollywood assumes everyone in America is on vacation, so unless you live in New York or L.A., you have just two new choices: the Matt Dillon–starring, bank-robbing actioner Takers or the critically tolerated Eli Roth–produced demon-possession thriller The Last Exorcism, neither of which seem worth a case of bedbugs (you could also see the rereleased Avatar, but you already have). So, we wondered — is this truly the worst movie weekend of 2010? We crunched some numbers this morning, and the answer may surprise you.

Cancel the Oscars! Shockingly, this is not the worst movie weekend of the year — it’s actually an exceptionally good movie weekend! Vulture added and averaged the Rotten Tomatoes scores for every wide-released film for every weekend in 2010 so far and, incredibly, found twenty other weekends that were even more awful. So enjoy Takers and Last Exorcism — they may not be great, but they’re certainly no worse than Sex and the City 2 and Prince of Persia. Our complete findings, below.

1. January 22: Legion (19%), Tooth Fairy (17%), Extraordinary Measures (27%)
Total: 63
Average: 21%

2. May 28: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (37%), Sex and the City 2 (16%)
Total: 53
Average: 26.5%

3. April 2: Clash of the Titans (29%), The Last Song (19%), Why Did I Get Married Too? (32%)
Total: 80
Average: 26.7%

4. July 2: The Last Airbender (7%), The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (52%)
Total: 59
Average: 29.5%

5. July 30: Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore (13%), Charlie St. Cloud (27%), Dinner for Schmucks (51%)
Total: 91
Average: 30.3%

January 15 (tie): The Spy Next Door (12%), The Book of Eli (47%), The Lovely Bones (32%)
Total: 91
Average: 30.3%

7. June 25: Knight and Day (54%), Grown Ups (11%)
Total: 65
Average: 32.5%

February 5 (tie): Dear John (28%), From Paris With Love (37%)
Total: 65
Average: 32.5%

9. February 12: The Wolfman (33%), Valentine’s Day (17%), Percy Jackson (50%)
Total: 100
Average: 33.3%

10. January 29: When in Rome (16%), Edge of Darkness (55%)
Total: 71
Average: 35.5%

11. April 30: Please Give (88%), A Nightmare on Elm Street (13%), Furry Vengeance (7%)
Total: 108
Average: 36%

12. March 12: Green Zone (55%), Remember Me (27%), She’s Out of My League (57%), Our Family Wedding (13%)
Total: 152
Average: 38%

13. January 8: Daybreakers (66%), Youth in Revolt (68%), Leap Year (20%), Crazy on the Outside (0%)
Total: 154
Average: 38.5%

14. April 9: Date Night (67%), Letters to God (17%)
Total: 84
Average: 42%

15. June 4: Get Him to the Greek (73%), Killers (12%), Marmaduke (10%), Splice (74%)
Total: 169
Average: 42.25%

16. May 14: Just Wright (49%), Letters to Juliet (42%), Robin Hood (43%)
Total: 134
Average: 44.7%

17. February 26: The Crazies (71%), Cop Out (19%)
Total: 90
Average: 45%

18. July 16: Inception (87%), The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (43%), Standing Ovation (7%)
Total: 137
Average: 45.7%

19. March 5: Alice in Wonderland (51%), Brooklyn’s Finest (43%)
Total: 94
Average: 47%

20. August 20: Lottery Ticket (31%), Nanny McPhee Returns (77%), Piranha 3D (81%), The Switch (49%), Vampires Suck (5%)
Total: 243
Average: 48.6%

21. August 27: The Last Exorcism (66%), Takers (32%)
Total: 98
Average: 49%

Read more posts by Lane Brown and Cooper Marshall

Filed Under: math, movies