By Dean Goodman
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - If you vomit and defecate in public places, they will come.That could be the new mantra in Hollywood as the anarchic reality film "Jackass: The Movie" opened at No. 1 and put a new spin on the term "box office gross."
According to studio estimates issued Sunday, "Jackass" earned $22.7 million in the three days beginning Oct. 25. If estimates hold when final data are released Monday, it will rank as the third-highest October opening ever.
"Jackass the Movie," based on the controversial MTV stunt series, follows a gang of inebriated urban warriors who eat a snow cone soaked in urine, defecate in a toilet displayed in a home-supply store, and pole-vault into a wall.
Not surprisingly, moviegoers of a certain age and gender loved it, said officials at the film's distributor, Paramount Pictures. Almost half the audience for the R-rated comedy consisted of males aged 17 to 24. Overall, males made up two-thirds of the audience, and almost three-quarters were under 25.
But exit polling indicated women who watched it loved the movie just as much as the men, said MTV President Van Toffler.
"We produced a good mindless escape for the weekend," said Toffler, who had hoped the movie would open with $15 million.
The music cable network's feature film arm, MTV Films, produced the project for Paramount. Both are units of Viacom Inc. The budget was just $5 million, as evidenced by the shaky camera work.
"Jackass" did not screen in advance for critics, a tactic occasionally used when studios fear bad reviews will kill the opening weekend. In this case, the producers decided the film was an underground effort driven by word of mouth.
'RING' DIALS UP MORE DOLLARS
Last weekend's champion, the killer-videotape horror "The Ring" slipped to No. 2. But its three-day haul of $18.8 million represents an unprecedented 25 percent boost from its bow last weekend, thanks in part to a similarly sized increase in theaters. Genre movies generally lose more than half their audience in the second weekend, but sales were steady at existing theaters, said Jim Tharp, distribution president at privately owned DreamWorks.
The film, budgeted at about $43 million, should end up with about $80 million, Tharp said.
The top 10 contained two other new entries. Just in time for Halloween next Thursday, "Ghost Ship" opened at No. 3 with $11.7 million, a surprisingly strong figure given the bad reviews. The $20 million-budgeted haunted-ship tale stars Julianna Margulies (news) and Gabriel Byrne (news). The film was released by Warner Bros. Pictures, a unit of AOL Time Warner Inc.
And the acclaimed Adam Sandler (news) romantic comedy "Punch-Drunk Love" jumped eight places to No. 7 with $3.5 million after two weekends in limited release. Now playing in a moderate 481 theaters, the film will expand to more than 1,000 outlets next weekend, said a spokesman at Columbia Pictures, a unit of Sony Corp (news - web sites).. It has earned $6.1 million to date.
SAD BUT TRUE FOR 'CHARLIE'
Not doing so well was "The Truth About Charlie," a remake of the Audrey Hepburn-Cary Grant caper "Charade." It opened at No. 14 with just $2.3 million, albeit from just 752 theaters (vs. more than 2,500 for each of the top four films). "Charlie," which starred Mark Wahlberg (news) and Thandie Newton (news), was released by Universal Pictures, a unit of Vivendi Universal SA
The top five was rounded out by two romantic comedies: "Sweet Home Alabama" (Touchstone Pictures) fell two places to No. 4 with $6.4 million, and "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" (IFC Films) fell one to No. 5 with $6.3 million. Their respective totals are $107.2 million after five weekends, and $177.8 million after 28 weekends.
Touchstone is a unit of Walt Disney Co. IFC FIlms is majority owned by Cablevision Systems Corp.
Overall box office receipts rose for the seventh consecutive weekend, according to box office tracking firm Exhibitor Relations. The top 12 grossed $88 million, up 21 percent from the year-ago weekend, when the Kevin Spacey (news) bomb "K-Pax" opened at No. 1 with $17.5 million.
New releases next weekend include the comedies "I Spy," starring Eddie Murphy (news) and Owen Wilson (news), and "The Santa Clause 2," starring Tim Allen (news).
Reuters/Variety
watch, and a monster was born. P. J.
Clapp became Johnny Knoxville and he, Bam Magera, Ryan Dunn, Chris Pontius, and
the ever suicidal Steve-O set out to wreck havoc on a nation of impressionable
children and adults. The weekly tv show ran for about 2 years and featured
stunts with minimal safety equipment and no nets. What made the show funny is
that the consequences of these falls, bumps, slams, flames, anal insertions, and
explosions resulted in real extreme pain and it was all shown. In the second
episode of the show, Knoxville breaks his ankle trying to jump across a river
bed of some sort. With so many injuries happening to the core cast, more pranks
were done that did not involve banging their heads against concrete. Of course
this show had copy catters who hurt themselves without thinking. For example,
several kids set themselves on fire to emulate the show, not realizing that when
someone was set on fire on Jackass, they were wearing a full body asbestos suit.
Despite the recklessness, everyone on the show had people looking out for their
well being during the more dangerous moments. Just looking at their faces after
a nasty hit is enough to clarify the "don't try this at home
warnings." The controversy over the show became too great so they
eventually stopped producing it and decided to make movie with the stunts they
could not show on television. Lord have mercy on our souls. Jackass: the Movie
is one of the funniest movies in the last 5 or 10 years, and is probably the
most difficult film to sit through without screaming out loud in utter disbelief
at least 3 times. Here are some of the things attempted in the film: Snorting
wasabi, taking a dump in a store display toilet, paper cutting themselves
between their toes, little car anal insertion, and eating yellow snow cones. I
have to say that there was not one thing in this movie I would try to replicate
in my own personal life. The movie is just like the tv show, but with more
unbleeped cursing and lots of man-ass. There is no plot, just individual bits.
Bam Magera's parents are tortured in creative ways that make up some of the
honest to goodness funniest stuff in the film without being completely obscene.
I have seen some of the Jackass crews more controversial activities in a couple
of their special order videos and those are more disturbing to view than
anything in this movie especially Steve-O's DVDs where he staples... no, I won't
say what he staples, but it is not something you want to staple. Staples and
this body part do not mix. Fortunately that particular thing is not in this
movie. Jackass: the Movie is for any fan of the television show, but all others
beware. The nightmares this movie can give you, are ones you do not want to
discuss with a therapist. Final Review: 2 1/2 stars out of 5; 5 1/2 out of 10;
B-; thumbs up.