<Tr> <Th> Budget </Th> <Td> $550,000 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Box office </Th> <Td> $59.8 million </Td> </Tr> <P> Friday the 13th is a 1980 American slasher film produced and directed by Sean S. Cunningham, and written by Victor Miller . It stars Betsy Palmer, Adrienne King, Harry Crosby, Laurie Bartram, Kevin Bacon, Jeannine Taylor, Mark Nelson, and Robbi Morgan . The film tells the story of a group of teenagers who are murdered one by one by an unknown killer while attempting to re-open an abandoned summer camp . </P> <P> Prompted by the success of John Carpenter's Halloween (1978), director Cunningham put out an advertisement to sell the film in Variety in early 1979, while Miller was still drafting the screenplay . After casting the film in New York City, filming took place in New Jersey in the summer of 1979, on an estimated budget of $550,000 . A bidding war ensued over the finished film, ending with Paramount Pictures acquiring the film for domestic distribution, while Warner Bros. secured European distribution rights . </P>

When was the first friday the 13th movie released