Box Office Preview: ‘Jackass 3D’ to be 3-peat hit

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Johnny Knoxville and company are set to make a complete jackass out of the box office this weekend as Paramount’s “Jackass 3D” looks to add another No. 1 debut to the franchise’s perfect track record.

Derived from the outrageous MTV show, the first film was a surprise hit in 2002 when it opened on top in late October with $22.8 million. The second movie was an even bigger hit when it debuted in late September of 2006 with a winning $29 million.

Now, it looks like these jackasses will again have the last laugh all the way to the bank, but this time they’re boosted by the novelty of 3-D, which is likely to provide an opening take of between $30 million to $35 million.

Summit Entertainment’s “Red” takes a page out of “The Expendables” playbook with an all-star ensemble cast, action galore and enough comedic elements to give the film broad-based appeal.

Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, Mary-Louise Parker, Helen Mirren and Richard Dreyfus round out a very diverse, though somewhat unconventional cast for this type of action film. A gross of around $20 million should land the film in second place for the weekend.

Sony’s “The Social Network” continues its terrific run, hitting the $50 million mark on Wednesday after just 13 days of release as it continues to generate strong word-of-mouth, draw critical accolades and even awards season buzz.

A low 30 percent drop going into its third weekend will give the film another $10 million and a total to date of over $60 million.

The second weekend of both Warner Bros.’ romantic comedy “Life as We Know It” and Disney’s inspirational true life horse racing drama “Secretariat” will put them in a dead heat for the fourth and fifth positions in the weekend derby with grosses in the $7 million to $8 million range.

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Paul Dergarabedian is president of the Box Office Division of Hollywood.com. and has been providing box office information to The Associated Press for nearly two decades.

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