'The Last Stand' vs. 'Zero Dark Thirty': Box Office Battle (POLL)

Posted January 17, 2013, 6:00 pm   •   by Phil Pirrello   •   0 comments

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mark Wahlberg and a really pissed-off ghost mom are vying for your box office attention this weekend.

The Last Stand, Broken City and the new horror film, Mama, are eager to dethrone last week's champ, Zero Dark Thirty. That's three new releases entering a marketplace full of Awards contenders and holiday holdovers - so don't say you have nothing to do this weekend.

After a stint as one of The Expendables, Arnold is back on the big screen in The Last Stand.

The movie features the once and future Kindergarten Cop as a border-town sheriff who must stop a big bad drug kingpin from fleeing into Mexico. Last Stand has "guilty pleasure" written all over it, and it's proving to be a critical favorite with a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. That sound you hear is action movie fans buying tickets by the metric ton.

Broken City finds the star of last year's comedic hit, Ted, squaring off against Russell Crowe in a crime thriller about big city corruption. Reviews have been mixed to negative for the film, but Wahlberg’s fanbase is critic-proof. (See Contraband as “Exhibit A”.)

Before he unleashes his giant robots versus even giant-er monsters movie Pacific Rim upon us, Guillermo Del Toro wants to scare us first with Mama. Produced by Del Toro, the film stars Zero Dark Thirty’s Jessica Chastain as a reluctant caretaker for two young girls who bring a very dangerous, very scary houseguest with them.

January is usually a dumping ground for below-average horror fare, but Mama’s positive critical response seems to be bucking the trend.

Which movie will take the No. 1 spot this weekend? Drop your predictions in the comments below!