Why is the first movie of the year the worst movie of the year?

Forget Friday the 13th. For those of us who love movies, the scariest day is the first Friday of the year.

Without fail, the first movie to open wide each year is almost always a dud. Worthy films open in December, where they can gain momentum, and cash-in on holiday viewers. This is also where the bulk of the awards season contenders debut, fresh for critics’ year-end “best of” lists. (A number of these films platform in markets like New York and L.A., and will be opening in Atlanta in the coming days and weeks - most notably Zero Dark Thirty, Promised Land, Amour).

This piece is not about these films. Instead, it is about the crap that studios dump after the peach drops and the calendar turns to January. Now is the time to spew cinematic waste, where it won’t drag down the previous years’ financial reports, and where any losses will be balanced out by prestige projects (like Les Miz) and box office champs (like Django Unchained, The Hobbit, This is 40 and Skyfall).

In 2013, the honor goes to Texas Chainsaw 3D, opening today!

Give the folks at Lionsgate credit: even the TV spot welcomes the honor by including New Year’s anthem “Auld Lang Syne.”

Here’s a look back at the last 10 years worth of first films of the year, along with the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer scores, and a sampling of the best critical quips.

2012
On Friday, January 6, in an attempt to capture the piece of Paranormal Activity pie Paramount unleashed the faux found footage snoozer The Devil Inside, plummeting to 7% on Rotten Tomatoes scale.