It’s been over a decade since audiences were able to head out to their local theater and spend an hour and a half with Johnny Knoxville and his wild crew. Now, as the weekend winds down and numbers are coming in, its clear audiences missed this crew.
Taking the top spot this weekend, ‘Jackass Forever‘ brought in an impressive $23.5 million. Already more than doubling the budget (around $10 million) and marking the second win for Paramount so far this year. While this opening is a strong one, it doesn’t quite measure those of the previous installments. Back in 2010, ‘Jackass 3D’ opened to $50.3 million and went on to gross over $100 million domestically by the end of its theatrical run. Heading into the weekend I felt confident that the latest installment would open somewhere around $30-$32 million. Unfortunately certain parts of the country were covered in snow and ice as various storms impacted cities in the midwest and out east.
The film also opened to strong reviews from both critics and audiences. Currently, the fourth installment is certified fresh at 85% on Rotten Tomatoes. The highest score of the franchise. Audiences were also pleased with ‘Forever’, scoring a B+ on CinemaScore.
Throughout the pandemic, younger audiences have been the most prevalent at the the multiplex and with Jackass Forever‘s target audience skewing towards the younger crowd I was sure that the opening number would be higher. That being said, the $23.5 million opening is still one that Paramount should be proud of.
Another newcomer this weekend debuted in the second spot. Lionsgate’s ‘Moonfall‘ opened to a rocky $10 million. The Halle Berry and Patrick Wilson starring doomsday flick was directed by Roland Emmerich and had a production budget of $140 million.
Critics and audiences were also less enthusiastic about Emmerich’s latest end of the world flick. Moonfall currently sits at 40% on Rotten Tomatoes and a C+ CinemaScore.
Heading into the weekend, news broke that a sixth installment of the “Scream” franchise was in the works at Paramount and Spyglass. Presumably hoping to give the latest film a bit of a boost at the box office, ‘Scream‘ brought in another $4.7 million. Bringing its domestic total to about $69 million and worldwide total to $113 million.
OF course there’s also the unstoppable ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home‘ which continues to impress. Racking up another $9.6 million this weekend. As days go by it looks more and more likely that the latest superhero flick will overtake James Cameron’s ‘Avatar’ for the third spot on the all time domestic list. As far as where No Way Home stands on the all time worldwide chart, the sixth spot on the list looks to be where the film will stay. Will Sony attempt to re-energize their hit with a “re-release” of sorts to give it a shot at that fifth spot?
As far as this coming week goes, Disney/20th Century Studios will release ‘Death on the Nile‘ exclusively in theaters after several delays. Universal is set to release their romantic comedy ‘Marry Me‘ starring Jennifer Lopez and Owen Wilson in theaters and on Peacock.
