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A Very Happy Death Day For Writer Scott Lobdell, With $26.5 Million Opening Weekend

Published Mon, 16 Oct 2017 08:15:40 -0500

Comic book writer, better known for his work on the Uncanny X-Men comic in the nineties and more recently for Superman, Teen Titans and Red Hood And The Outlaws, Scott Lobdell, has scored a major success with his screenplay for the movie Happy Death Day taking the no 1 box office spot, with a $26.5 million take, almost doubling Blade Runner's second week success of $15.5 million. Its largest demographic was women under 25, making up 33% of the audience for the movie.

The movie is, basically, a cross between Groundhog Day and Scream that took over ten years after it was first written to make it to the screen, going from Michael Bay and Megan Fox to Jason Blum, Chris Landon and Jessica Rothe.

I also think that Happy Death Day may be the first time a screenplay with solo credit given to a writer more familiar with comic book writing has got the no 1 box office spot. Sin City might count for Frank Miller but that always felt a fudge as he didn't actually write the screenplay, he wrote and drew the comics, it was just Robert Rodriguez' generous way of not distracting from Frank Miller's name. Other challengers, such as James Robinson's League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen only made it to the no 2 spot. Joe Michael Straczynski is probably better known for his TV work than comics. Could this be a first for Scott Lobdell?

I already understand that publishers are already trying to get back cover quotes for their own work from Lobdell as "writer of Happy Death Day". It might be an opportune moment for Lobdell to pitch a comic book or two – if he has the time from all the sudden screenplay rewriting gigs he is no doubt being offered right this second.

One day, they'll let him back on X-Men. One day.