“Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa” got an early jump on the weekend, racking up a smashing $1.6 million in midnight and late night shows on Thursday.
The raunchy comedy follows a doddering octogenarian (Johnny Knoxville) as he travels across the country with his young grandson. Many groin-related injuries ensue.
“Bad Grandpa” is on track to earn north of $30 million this weekend and should push “Gravity” from the top slot after three consecutive weekends finishing in first place. “Gravity” should score $20 million.
The film is expected to benefit from a dearth of comedies in the marketplace and relatively strong reviews. It earned a solid 65 percent “fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes and prompted TheWrap‘s Alonso Duralde to enthuse, “‘Bad Grandpa’ delivers some of the heartiest laughs I’ve had all year.”
The film may fall short of previous “Jackass” installments. For example, “Jackass 3D” opened to $54 million two years ago, but Paramount will still see a healthy return on the film’s $15 million production budget.
The weekend’s other major wide release, Ridley Scott’s “The Counselor” is expected to a have a soft debut despite boasting a cast that includes Michael Fassbender, Cameron Diaz, Brad Pitt and Javier Bardem. It should open to $10 million.
Now if only those A-listers could have been hit in the balls.