The Friday the 13th franchise is one of the most popular series in horror history, but which of the 12 terrifying slasher flicks made the most money at the box office? After the monumental success of John Carpenter’s Halloween in 1978, dozens of filmmakers around the world got the same idea. Slasher films were suddenly the hot new thing in horror, and Friday the 13th was just one of many copycats.
The mystery slasher is set at Camp Crystal Lake, and features a roster of promiscuous young adults who are picked off by a mysterious killer. The first Friday the 13th film was such a huge success that it spawned a legion of imitators of its own, and quickly led to sequel after sequel for the next decade. The franchise’s bloodthirsty villain, Jason Vorhees, suddenly became a pop culture icon.
The main reason that Paramount kept pumping out Friday the 13th movies is because they were relatively cheap to make, and they turned a pretty nice profit. Even if they ranged in quality from putrid to pretty good, the franchise was a consistent moneymaker for most of the 1980s. Ownership changed hands in the ’90s, and that’s largely where Jason’s original run died off.
Though Jason had a few big hits in the 2000s, he’s been dormant for nearly two decades. It’s unclear if he’ll ever don the hockey mask and weld his machete ever again, but it’s pretty much guaranteed to be a box office hit if Jason returns. All-told, the Friday the 13th franchise has grossed over $400 million, but which is the highest grossing movie in the series?
12
Friday The 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989) – $14 Million
A decade into the franchise, Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan limped to a series-low $14 million. Though it’s a pretty bad entry all around, its quality had nothing to do with its box office. The eighth movie continued a downward trend that had been going on for several installments. However, because the budget was only $5 million, Jason Takes Manhattan likely made a small profit.
11
Jason Goes To Hell: The Final Friday (1993) – $15 Million
Paramount passed the torch to New Line Cinema, but the house that Freddy built largely fumbled the bag. Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday left many viewers scratching their heads with its convoluted supernatural plot. However, it was intriguing enough to drum up some interest. Despite being one of the lowest-grossing installments in the franchise, Jason Goes to Hell didn’t flop.
New Line made the right decision with their first Jason flick, and they kept costs way down. The ninth Friday the 13th film (though they couldn’t use the name because of legal issues) only cost $3 million to make. This means it actually made quite a bit of money, even when factoring in additional costs like marketing and advertising. Home video sales also probably added to the profits.
10
Jason X (2001) – $17 Million
Though its predecessor didn’t bomb, New Line’s next Jason movie certainly did. Jason X is the franchise’s most ambitious movie to date, and the tongue-in-cheek sci-fi plot was actually exactly what the series needed after a handful of missteps. Audiences came to see it, but its $17 million box office was eaten up by a pretty big production budget.
New Line sank upwards of $15 million into Jason X, and it shows. Unfortunately, the soaring costs meant that the measly $17 million box office was barely enough to cover initial expenses. When accounting for all the other marketing and advertising costs, Jason X lost a lot of money.
9
Friday The 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988) – $19.2 Million
Even seven movies in, audiences hadn’t grown tired of seeing Jason hack and slash his way through unsuspecting young folks. Part VI introduced the supernatural, and Part VII: The New Blood took things a step further with a plot ripped straight from Stephen King’s Carrie. Though box offices continued to trend downward, The New Blood scored big.
Initial plans for Part VII were much grander, but Paramount’s finished product ended up in less ambitious territory. Therefore, on a budget of only $3 million, the film scored $19.2 million at the box office. Any way you slice it, The New Blood was a box office success, even if it’s one of Jason’s weaker rampages.
8
Friday The 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986) – $19.5 Million
After the fake Jason twist in Part V, Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives decided to bring back the genuine article in his zombie form. With a newfound humorous tone and playful atmosphere, Part VI is one of the best installments in the entire franchise. It also set the stage for the remainder of Jason’s onscreen appearances. Unfortunately, all that couldn’t stop the box office backslide.
Jason Lives earned $19.5 million against a $3 million budget, so Paramount had nothing to cry about. However, the return of Jason should have propelled the sixth movie past its predecessor, but it didn’t. The final film in the Tommy Jarvis trilogy was also its lowest-grossing.
7
Friday The 13th Part 2 (1981) – $21 Million
The producers of the Friday the 13th franchise wasted no time when they cranked out the first sequel in under a year, but their prudence wasn’t really rewarded at the box office. Friday the 13th Part 2 is the first film in the series to feature Jason as the main villain, but he doesn’t have his signature hockey mask yet. Though it pales in comparison to the first, Part 2 is really where the series begins in earnest.
$21 million on a $1.25 million budget is a huge profit, but it actually marks a more than 50% decrease in box office from the first installment. Thankfully, that didn’t deter Paramount, who pressed on with the franchise the next year. Considering Friday the 13th‘s overwhelming popularity in the ’80s, Part 2‘s smaller box office is a weird anomaly.
6
Friday The 13th Part V: A New Beginning (1985) – $21.9 Million
Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning was the last time the franchise grossed over $20 million for nearly two decades, and it used up a large chunk of the fanbase’s good will. After Part IV promised to be the end of the story, Part V came along with a pretty superfluous installment in the series, especially considering the ending twist. Part VI corrected the course, but the damage was already done.
After saying all that, A New Beginning was still a huge hit for Paramount. It grossed nearly $22 million on a miniscule $2.2 million budget, earning more than its overhead several times over. It would take the crossover of the century for the Friday the 13th franchise to ever earn more than what Part V drew back in 1985.
5
Friday The 13th: The Final Chapter (1984) – $32 Million
Spoiler alert! Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter was not actually the last film in the franchise, and Jason would be back to slay another day in only two years. In a pretty competent outing, Jason fully comes into his own as a slasher icon, and the movie earnestly tries to be a fitting conclusion to the series. Despite all that being undone in future installments, The Final Chapter is a great slasher flick.
Audiences thought so too, and the $2.2 million movie made $32 million at the box office. Paramount’s Golden Goose laid another golden egg, and though the studio was always a bit embarrassed of Friday the 13th, that didn’t stop them from bringing the series back in 1985.
4
Friday The 13th Part III (1982) – $36 Million
Guessing that momentum would carry Friday the 13th Part III to better box office returns than its predecessor, Paramount tried a gimmick with the third flick. While it isn’t the best of the movies by a long shot, the 3D effects in Part III certainly make up for the film’s abundant shortcomings. It also put a lot more butts in seats, boosting its box office success.
Rocketing past Part 2‘s number, the third movie scored an impressive $36 million against a $2.2 million budget. This level of consistent success is why the ’80s would be dominated by Jason, and Part III is the movie that gave him his iconic hockey mask. Part III is the second highest-grossing entry in the original Friday the 13th series.
3
Friday The 13th (1980) – $59 Million
To say that the original Friday the 13th was a surprise hit would be an understatement, and the low-budget flick exceeded all expectations. With a populace hungry for more slasher films, the franchise’s rather inauspicious debut arrived at the perfect time to satisfy that demand. The film’s box office was huge by 1980 standards, but it’s even more impressive when the budget is considered.
Made from anywhere between $550 and $650 thousand, Friday the 13th scared up an eye-watering $59 million at the box office. Though the series would chase that high for decades (and never reach it again until the 2000s), the profits from the debut feature were enough to fund the franchise for years.