Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
This post was originally published January 1, 2018.
It has been updated to include subsequent Januaries.
January at the movies is a tale of two seasons.
Many of these movies are flops.
A few lucky ones are hits.
Most of them will not be remembered by the time next January rolls around.
But this January, they will be remembered.
Heres how it will work.
Ill be looking at the 100-plus movies that have opened wide in January since 2009.
Thatsopened; movies that received a half-hearted Oscar-qualifying release in December were not included.
The year with the highest J-Ave will be crowned the Most January January.
Heres the scoring breakdown.
GenreSome genres are more January than others.
Youre a romantic drama?
Go open in November.
Critical ReceptionJanuary movies are not supposed to be good.
Thus, each film will be assessed points based on its Rotten Tomatoes score, the lower the better.
Scoring too high comes with significant penalties.
Thus, points will be awarded for low domestic box-office totals, and taken away for smash hits.
Films whose budgets are not available on Box Office Mojo are ineligible for this bonus.
Weve got 15 years and 130 films to get through.
If youre curious,The Marksmanwould have scored highest, thanks to the Neeson points.
Had we ranked it, this would have been the third-highest-scoring year.
2019
What makes 2019 score so low?
Well, two of those films were big hits:The UpsideandGlasseach broke the $100 million mark.
Lower-profile movies likeEscape RoomandA Dogs Way Homeperformed well, too.
2010
The second-oldest year in our study is also the year that scored the second- lowest.
The scoring is correct, and it will not be questioned.
InThe Book of Eli, Denzel Washington battled Gary Oldman in a post-apocalyptic desert.
Harrison Ford and Brendan Fraser squared off in the medical dramaExtraordinary Measures.
2024
In the darkest depths of quarantine, many wondered what a return to normal would look like.
that the fact it was released in January makes itveryJanuary.
Still, you’ve got the option to tell its the 2020s by the paucity of wide-release films.
2018
January 2018 is almost archetypal in its January-ness.
So why doesnt it place higher?
Blame that peskyPaddington 2and itsperfectRotten Tomatoesscore.
Like the bear says: If were kind and polite, the J-Score will be slight.
But no each of those misbegotten bits of Oscar bait got bare-bones December releases, making them ineligible here.
And wouldnt you know it, fully 50 percent of that pivotal period was January!
There were troop movies, horror films no one remembers, and disastrous star vehicles likeDolittle.
(Aided, of course, by every other big movie simply not coming out.)
January 2020, we salute you.
2012
Lets talk about Ben Foster.
Otherwise, flops all around.
2014
So, youve based your entire industry on adapting preexisting intellectual property into CGI-saturated action films.
Whats the worst that could happen?
One bright spot:Ride-Along, which started a minor comedy franchise*.
The film has since seen a critical reevaluation, but thats outside our purview here.
(We dont look further than the 31st, baby.)
2013
Youve followed me this far.
You deserve the truth.
I am a weak man, with a penchant for japes.
I meant no harm.
But now it appears something greater was guiding my hand.
Perhaps the spirit of January itself?
That was no man who puttesticles on Hugh Jackmans chin.
It was the eldritch power of January, burning itself into celluloid.
Pray it does not come again in our lifetimes.
That film received an Oscar-qualifying release in December 2013.
