The surprise box office winner for the first weekend in January was Texas Chainsaw 3D. The horror sequel sold over $23 million in tickets, which was 50% more than predicted. Late last week, pre-release audience surveys suggested it would earn around $15 million. A strong opening for sure, but not enough to topple Django Unchained, Les Miz or The Hobbit.

In exit interviews, the vast majority of those who went to see Chainsaw were under
the age of 25, and one-third said they went to the movie specifically because rapper Trey Songz is in it.

This is only his third film appearance, but the next one, Baggage Claim, is already in post-production. You can bet the calls are going to start coming in to his agent now.

The Angles:

• Trey Songz spent weeks promoting the movie via Twitter.
• Trey Songz needed about one-third of his followers (6 million) to buy a ticket to earn $23 million at the box office.
• Low-budget horror flicks are the best escapism at the movie theaters.
• Too many of the Academy Award movies are either too boring or too long.
• What sequel would you like to see Trey Songz star in next?
• Rappers who built solid film careers: Will Smith, Queen Latifah, Ice Cube, Mark Wahlberg, LL Cool J, Tupac Shakur, Ludacris, Mos Def, Eminem.