'Jackass' Crashes Into Fall Record
by Brandon Gray --- October 17, 2010
Jackass 3-D made a lot of jack over the weekend. In fact, it boasted the biggest-grossing opening weekend that a Fall (Sept.-Oct.) movie has ever seen, and it more than doubled the debut of the solid Red. The holdovers were unphased by Jackass's bluster, contributing to a busy weekend by mid-October standards, despite being down four percent from the same timeframe last year when Where the Wild Things Are debuted.
Storming approximately 4,600 screens at 3,081 locations, Jackass 3-D raked in an estimated $50 million, exceeding Scary Movie 3's $48.1 million for the Fall opening record. It also blew away the debuts of the previous Jackass movies: the first one took in $22.8 million at 2,509 sites, while Jackass: Number Two pulled in $29 million at 3,059 sites.
Jackass 3-D had 2,452 locations presenting the picture in the 3D illusion, and the 3D showings accounted for close to 90 percent of business. That means the initial attendance gains over the previous Jackass movies were not commensurate with the gross gains, and that Jackass 3-D did not break the Fall weekend attendance record: Scary Movie 3 remains on top in that regard, while Jackass 3-D would barely crack the Top Ten.
Still, Jackass 3-D improved on the attendance of its predecessors, which was quite impressive for a perceptually-bound franchise that's been around for ten years. Johnny Knoxville and crew have evidently pleased their audience consistently over the years. Being perceptually-bound seems to have made Jackass a perfect fit for 3D. With the promise of outrageous things flying out of the screen at viewers and a more immersive view of the stunts, Jackass advertised a lot of 3D bang for the buck, as opposed to the subtle effects of other 3D movies.
Distributor Paramount Pictures noted that Jackass 3-D also posted the October midnight gross record on Friday, $2.5 million (included in the $50 million), and that the movie saw a 15 percent increase in the female audience from Jackass: Number Two (which had a 35 percent female share). The studio's exit polling indicated that 60 percent of Jackass 3-D's audience was male and that 67 percent was under 25 years old.
In second, Red recruited an estimated $22.5 million on around 4,100 screens at 3,255 locations. The action comedy had a larger opening than Cop Out ($18.2 million) and Killers ($15.8 million), more than doubled The Losers and wasn't far behind The A-Team among similar titles. Red also more than tripled the debut gross of Lucky Number Slevin, the last movie to feature both Bruce Willis and Morgan Freeman. Red was aggressively sold as a colorful, star-studded action comedy, and, curiously, it seemed like most television ads spotlighted co-stars Helen Mirren, John Malkovich and Mary-Louise Parker instead of Mr. Willis and Mr. Freeman. According to distributor Summit Entertainment's research, 53 percent of the audience was male and 58 percent was aged 35 years and older.
The Social Network posted another strong hold, dipping 29 percent. It made an estimated $11 million, increasing its sum to $63.1 million in 17 days. It held a bit better than 21 at the same point.
In addition to posting the smallest percentage decline among nationwide holdovers, Secretariat delivered the best second-weekend hold among all major 2010 nationwide releases. It slowed 25 percent to an estimated $9.5 million for a $27.5 million tally in ten days.
Life as We Know It didn't blow it in its second weekend, dropping 37 percent to an estimated $9.2 million for a $28.9 million total in ten days. Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole stood its ground against the 3D brunt of Jackass, descending 39 percent to an estimated $4.2 million (3D share down to 41 percent) for a modest $46 million in 24 days. Meanwhile, The Town eased 37 percent to an estimated $4 million for a $80.6 million sum in 31 days.
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