The latest reality slapstick comedy that brings together Johnny Knoxville, Steve-O and many others for crazy stunts easily bests Rolland Emmerich's big-budget sci-fi movie.
- Feb 7, 2022
AceShowbiz - "Jackass Forever" has a surprise launch at the North American box office. The fourth installment in the "Jackass" film series earned an estimated $23.5 million in ticket sales on its first weekend in theaters, enough to bring it to the top of the chart.
Costing only $10 million to produce, the reality slapstick comedy is already a clear success for Paramount, easily exceeding initial projection of $15 million on its opening weekend. The movie generated mostly male viewers, which accounted for 68% of the audience, with 67% of them between the ages of 18 and 34.
"In a business that doesn't surprise all that often, it's sure nice to know that surprises - good ones - can still happen," Chris Aronson, Paramount's president of domestic distribution, comments on the movie's No. 1 debut. "I was pretty heartened by the percentage of moviegoers over 35. Who knew?"
David A. Gross, who runs the movie consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research, explains what drew moviegoers to watch "Jackass Forever". He says, "It's extremely hard to keep it fresh and funny for this long, but 'Jackass' is doing that." He adds, "At a cost of only $10 million, the film is going to be very profitable."
"Moonfall", on the other hand, fails to cater for audiences despite boasting the impressive talent of director Rolland Emmerich and all-star cast including Halle Berry, Patrick Wilson, Michael Pena and Donald Sutherland among others. The sci-fi movie, which cost around $140 million to produce, only brought in an estimated $10 million on its first weekend to debut at No. 2 on the domestic box office.
The movie was not well received by critics, holding a 40% on Rotten Tomatoes. Like "Jackass Forever", its audience was also mostly male (60%). "At the moment, with the world coming apart in real time, who wants to sit through a disaster story? It's more fun to laugh at 'Jackass'," Gross weighs in on the movie's disappointing performance.
Last week's champion "Spider-Man: No Way Home" is moved to No. 3 after holding on the throne for six non-consecutive weeks. It added an estimated $9.6 million, bringing its total domestic gross to $748.9 million so far. Internationally, it has crossed the $1 billion mark for a total worldwide gross of $1.8 million.
In the fourth place is the new "Scream" movie, which raked up approximately $4.7 million on its fourth weekend, a 34.5% dip from last weekend. Rounding out the top five is "Sing 2", which brought in an estimated $4.2 million, slipping just $10.6 from the prior frame.
Elsewhere at the chart, Neon's "The Worst Person in the World" made the most of its limited release on four screens, where it amassed $135,042. That translates to an average of $33,760 per screen, the highest for any film in 2022 and the third-highest for any film in 2021 following "Licorice Pizza" and "Spider-Man: No Way Home".
"I truly love 'The Worst Person in the World', and experiencing it in a cinema with an audience was one of the best times I've had all year," said Elissa Federoff, Neon's president of distribution, of the foreign-language film. "Seeing packed theaters in NY and LA felt so good, and was a true signifier for the return of the platform release and our specialty box office. I couldn't be more pleased to see the heartfelt embrace for this film and independent cinema overall."
Top 10 of North America Box Office (Feb. 04-06, 2022):
- "Jackass Forever" - $23.5 million
- "Moonfall" - $10 million
- "Spider-Man: No Way Home" - $9.6 million
- "Scream" - $4.7 million
- "Sing 2" - $4.2 million
- "The King's Man" - $1.2 million
- "Redeeming Love" - $1 million
- "American Underdog" - $800,000
- "The 355" - $700,000
- "The Wolf and the Lion" - $675,027
