The fact that no one ever lost a dime underestimating the taste of the American public is a lesson that is certainly not lost on Johnny Knoxville and the producers of the “R-Rated” gross-out comedy Jackass 3-D, which apparently set a box office record for October with an estimated $50 million opening.  While young males formed the clear majority of the audience (60%) for Jackass 3-D, it did attract about 15% more females than the previous two films in the series, and a whopping 67% of the crowd was under 25. 

Weekend Box Office (Studio Estimates): October 15 - 17, 2010
	Film	Weekend Gross	Screens	Avg./ Screen	Total Gross	Wk#
1	Jackass 3-D	$50,000,000	3,081	$16,228	$50,000,000	1
2	Red	$22,500,000	3,255	$6,912	$22,500,000	1
3	The Social Network	$11,000,000	2,868	$3,835	$63,119,000	3
4	Secretariat	$9,503,000	3,072	$3,093	$27,517,000	2
5	Life as We Know It	$9,200,000	3,150	$2,921	$28,865,000	2
6	Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole	$4,235,000	2,502	$1,693	$46,002,000	4
7	The Town	$4,040,000	2,368	$1,706	$80,574,000	5
8	My Soul to Take	$3,161,000	2,529	$1,250	$11,907,000	2
9	Easy A	$2,650,000	2,314	$1,145	$52,334,000	5
10	Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps	$2,350,000	2,045	$1,149	$47,882,000	4

More importantly perhaps, it seems to have burnished the image of extra-dimensional filmmaking, which has taken some hits at the box office lately.  Thanks in large part to the extra charges for 3-D showings, Jackass 3-D has reached the neighborhood of the total grosses for the first two films in the series ($64.3 million and $72.8 million respectively) in just one weekend.  While it may fade fairly quickly like the first two films in the series, it might not--Jackass 3-D scored a solid “B+” CinemaScore with its audience.

 

Also performing better than expectations was Robert Schwentke’s Red, which is based on the comic book series by Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner.   There should be some “red” faces at Warner Bros., which passed, on Red (allowing the DC/Wildstorm property to go to Summit Entertainment), and decided to make films based on The Losers , which totaled just over $23 million during its entire run, and Jonah Hex, which brought in just $10.5 million, instead. 

 

Critics generally like Red (70% positive on Rotten Tomatoes), though they couldn’t help but comment on the age of its stars by putting it in the “geriaction” film category along with Sylvester Stallone’s previously released The Expendables.  But Red's older stars clearly had a strong appeal to an older audience of both genders.  In stark contrast to Jackass 3-D, 58% of the audience for Red, which remains steadfastly lighthearted in the midst of its all-out, over-the-top action sequences, was over 35, and just 53% of it was male.  Opening weekend audiences gave Red, which cost an estimated $58 million to produce, a strong “A-“ CinemaScore, which indicates that the Bruce Willis, John Malkovich, Helen Mirren-starring film could have some real “legs.”

 

It is now clear that David Fincher’s Facebook saga The Social Network, which cost $50 million to produce, is a hit.  In its third frame it dropped just 28.8% as it brought in an additional $11 million, which took its cumulative to over $63 million.  It will quite likely break the $100 million mark and should be a prime candidate for the Oscars next spring.

 

Speaking of “legs,” Disney’s horse-racing drama Secretariat dropped just 25% in its second weekend and finished fourth at $9.5 million, just ahead of last week’s runner-up, the comedy Life As We Know It, which fell by just 36.6%.  Zack Snyder’s kid-centric Legend of the Guardians posted another strong hold, dropping just 38.5% in its fourth frame, while Ben Affleck’s The Town (down 37%) and the Emma Stone-starring teen comedy Easy A (down 38.2%) also aged well.

 

Wes Craven’s My Soul to Take suffered the biggest drop in the top ten (53.8%) as it fell from its fifth spot debut to eighth in its second weekend. 

 

Tamara Drewe, which is based on the graphic novel by Posy Simmonds, expanded from 4 art theaters to ten, but hasn’t really caught on—its per theater average is just over $2,000.  It appears that it will have to do its damage on DVD.