The biggest release of the weekend is ‘The Cabin in the Woods’ (R), the horror collaboration from Drew Goddard and Joss Whedon that has had everyone buzzing for quite some time. It’s billed as a twist on the traditional teens-on-a-camping-trip genre, and with Whedon involved, it could live up to that promise. Look for Chris Hemsworth in his pre-‘Thor’ days as one of the ill-fated young people, who seem to be at the mercy of a much more sinister band of schemers than your average inbred cannibals.

‘The Three Stooges’ (PG) looks like one of the most shamelessly terrible attempts to remake a classic that we’ll see all year. Directed by the fading Farrelly brothers, the film finds the trio trying to save their childhood orphanage, stumbling into a murder plot, and starring in a reality TV show, all while stumbling through their classic slapstick jokes. Don’t recognize the stars, Sean Hayes, Chris Diamantopoulos, and Will Sasso? Neither will most moviegoers, since they’ve worked largely here and there in television, not on the big screen, and only Hayes has a long-running series to his name (that would be ‘Will & Grace’).

Producer Luc Besson has openly admitted that his latest film, ‘Lockout’ (PG-13), is basically ‘Taken’ in outer space—and that’s just fine, since the off-the-wall sci-fi premise is arriving at a time when theatres are short on such fare. Guy Pearce plays a man wrongly convicted of conspiracy to spy on the U.S.; he’s offered his freedom if he can rescue the president’s daughter (Maggie Grace), who is being held hostage on a deep space prison that’s been overrun by violent inmates. Remember, Grace also played the captive daughter in ‘Taken’, so this is familiar territory for her; perhaps more interesting will be her role in ‘Taken 2’, when the tables are turned and she’s the one who must rescue a family member.