America loves a “Jackass,” breaks fall record

Either we’re all jackasses and the joke’s on us, or Americans really need to see people do stupid $#%( to themselves these days given all the economic turmoil. The third time was the charm (not that the first two performed poorly by any means) as “Jackass 3D” sucked up a half million, setting a fall season record. You read that right, “Jackass 3D” had the highest-grossing first weekend in fall movie history.

1. Jackass 3D – $50.3 M (weekend) … $50.3 M (gross)
2. RED – $21.7 M … $21.7 M
3. The Social Network – $10.3 M … $62.4 M
4. Secretariat – $9.3 M … $27.3 M
5. Life as We Know It – $8.9 M … $28.6 M
6. Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole – $4.2 M … $45.9 M
7. The Town – $3.9 M  … $80.5 M
8. My Soul to Take – $3.1 M … $11.9 M
9. Easy A – $2.6 M … $52.3 M
10. Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps – $2.3 M … $47.8 M

It’s not that the appeal of the “Jackass” concept has improved, but people like sure things these days at the movies and “Jackass” was a sure thing because no plot is involved, just ridiculousness, 100 percent dependable ridiculousness. 3-D sales probably helped that total as well.

It’s a shame for “RED,” a film that probably deserves more of a national spotlight but didn’t get it despite a strong $20 million opening.

The weekend was superbly healthy overall, with one film falling more than 50 percent in the top 10 and that was “My Soul To Take.” “Secretariat” impressively dropped just 25 percent from last week, which is a rarity. The 46.8 percent improvement from last week marks the highest jump week-to-week since “Iron Man 2” opened the summer season. The box office saw a similar jump this time last year when “Where the Wild Things Are” opened. Slowly the pre-Halloween weekends are becoming the hotspot of the fall.