It’s a weekend box office worth celebrating, with grosses up more than 50% from 2011. That success was almost entirely due to Taken 2, which delivered an estimated $50 million from 3,661 runs for one of the highest October debuts of all time. On the other end of the spectrum, Disney’s Frankenweenie failed to impress; opening in fifth place with an estimated $11.5 million from 3,005 runs despite weeks of heavy promotion.

Last time on the Jackass 3D free boozing, sumo wrestling, wind blasting, rope swinging, red carpet party coverage: I interviewed director Jeff Tremaine and Jackass members Ryan Dunn and Chris Pontius.  Today I finish off the interviews with fellow Jackass members Eric McGhehey, Preston Lacey and Wee-Man – wherein we discuss their earliest Jackass memories, scenes they wished had made the final cut, Mr. McGhehey’s missing tooth and Jackass 3.5.   Jackass 3D is currently available on DVD and Blu-ray everywhere. Hit the jump for the interviews.

The Jackass 3D Launch DVD Party was unsurprisingly rowdy – but not quite for the reasons one would naturally assume. Big gusts of wind plowed through the red carpet causing the wooden platforms emblazoned with Jackass logos to crack, break. Even the red carpet itself wasn’t safe from the sudden blasts of wind – one gust caused a piece of the carpet to blow off folding in onto itself. However – more importantly, the unceasing winds caused me to shiver unendingly, my papers and notes to blow off into the furthest depths of the Paramount parking lot and the audio for the interviews to sound particularly distorted. But such circumstances failed to deter this intrepid interviewer from talking with Jackass 3D director Jeff Tremaine and Jackass members Chris Pontius, Ryan Dunn, Wee-Man, Preston Lacey and Ehren McGhehey about their earliest Jackass memories, their favorite deleted scenes, and what to expect from Jackass 3.5. Plus Ryan Dunn gives an update on Mustache Riders, the narrative film set to reunite him with fellow Jackass stars Johnny Knoxville and Bam Margera.

The interviews will be split in two. For today – interviews with Jackass members Ryan Dunn, Chris Pontius, and director Jeff Tremaine will appear. And on Tuesday – interviews with Eric McGhehey, Preston Lacey and Wee-Man. Jackass 3D is currently available on DVD and Blu-ray. For the red carpet (less) interviews, hit the jump.  We’ve also got a big gallery of pictures from the event.

Seeing the Jackass gang ten years after their MTV show hit the airwaves, it’s impossible not to notice that we’re no longer looking at fresh-faced boys. Though surely everyone in the gang – Johnny Knoxville, Bam Margera, Steve-O, Chris Pontius, Ryan Dunn, Wee Man, Preston Lacy, Dave England and “Danger” Ehren Mcghehy – took their spills and hits before the show, and ten years on Indiana Jones was never more right: It’s not the years, it’s the mileage. For the first time for many of them, in Jackass 3-D they’re also doing these pranks and stunts sober, which must compound the pain of their idiotic (often heroically so) stunts. Hell, you probably have to be some form of intoxicated to think it would be fun to dress up like Santa Claus and climb a tree right before it gets cut down. For Jackass 3-D – in what may be the final go-around for these guys (at least if they hope to be walking for the rest of their lives) – the group do hilariously terrible things to each other and themselves. My review of the Blu-ray of Jackass 3-D follows after the jump.

Paramount will release the next installment in the Jackass franchise, Jackass 3.5, exclusively online on April 1st, 2011.  Per the press release, the film (which contains 85-minutes of never-before-seen footage) will debut on Joost.com in 12 different countries.  I’m not sure that Jackass and/or its antics needs anymore introduction from me so, with that in mind, hit the jump to check out both the Jackass 3.5 trailer and the full press release.

It’s awards season and while most films won’t be in the running for an Oscar, doesn’t mean it’s not fun to try.  Paramount has drawn up a For Your Consideration ad for Jackass 3 (aka Jackass 3D) and hopes that the Academy will consider the film to be worthy of awards in multiple categories, including Art Direction, Cinematography, Costume Design, and Best Picture.  While the film is unlikely to receive any Oscar nominations (unless the Academy suddenly decides to create a category for Best Use of Fecal Matter), it’s all in good fun.

Paramount has also announced that the DVD and Blu-ray Combo Pack for the film is due out March 8th.  Hit the jump to check out the For Your Consideration ad as well as the list of special features included on the upcoming DVD and Blu-ray.

As we enter 2011, Quentin Tarantino has revealed his top ten films of 2010.  The list includes the usual suspects (Toy Story 3, The Social Network) along with some fun surprises like Tangled and, shall we say “peculiar” surprises like Robin Hood.  Tarantino didn’t provide any comment on his choices, but said of his number ten pick, Enter the Void,

“Hands down best credit scene of the year? Maybe best credit scene of the decade. One of the greatest in cinema history.”

Hit the jump for Tarantino’s list along with a look at the opening credits for Enter the Void.

As we reported last month, there was enough unused footage from Jackass 3D to create a new movie and Johnny Knoxville and company plan to do exactly that.  Paramount plans to release Jackass 3.5 in March 2011 through digital release.  According to the press release, the plan is to have “New stunts and antics from Jackass 3.5 released online weekly and then packaged together as a feature length film distributed digitally followed by other platforms including home video.  The press release doesn’t mention the pricing for the weekly segments or the total package.  It also doesn’t specify which digital platforms will get the film (e.g. iTunes, Xbox Live, etc.).

Hit the jump for press release.

Despite big debuts like Jackass 3D and Paranormal Activity 2, this year’s crop of recent box-office releases have fallen well-below 2009 numbers week after week.  But if Friday’s numbers are any indication, this week’s three high-profile newcomers could finally break that cycle (only a bit less impressive when you know that, on this weekend in 2009, the top film was Disney’s creepy redux of A Christmas Carol). First this Friday was Megamind. The comedy pulled in an estimated $12.5 million from its 3,944 locations – but with a record 2,634 3D sites, the weekend grosses should top the $43.7 million of How To Train Your Dragon. Only a bit behind Megamind in second place was Todd Phillips’ Due Date with an estimate of $12 million. Weekend projections give the comedy $35 million despite its R-rating and stiff family-friendly competition. Finally, Tyler Perry brought in an estimated $7.4 million on Friday with his drama For Colored Girls. Despite the fact that film does not feature the director in drag, weekend projections put his latest release in the neighborhood of $20 million – the very same neighborhood that Perry has grown accustomed to over the past few years. We’ll have full weekend details when you check back tomorrow.

It’s another weekend for the box office record books. Sort of. One week after Jackass 3D claimed the month’s highest opening weekend with $50.3 million, Paranormal Activity 2 has scored the highest opening ever for a supernatural horror flick. In terms of general horror titles, PA2 now ranks third.  First or third, with an estimate of over $41 million, the sequel is opening scary-huge.

In the tradition of Jackass 2.5, MTV has plans to collect over an hour of  deleted scenes and unused bits from Jackass 3D for Jackass 3.5.  Star Johnny Knoxville and director Jeff Tremaine were a bit unclear about the specifics, but the plan is for both Jackass 3.5 and the Jackass 3D DVD to come out sometime after Christmas.  Jackass 3.5 will come out first “online and on DVD around January,” with the Jackass 3D DVD not too far behind.

Hit the jump for a clip of Knoxville and Tremaine describing a few of the extra scenes that will be included.

One year ago, box office observers were gushing over the obscene amount of money Paramount was making with Paranormal Activity. You remember. The studio picked up the film for about three dollars and then marketed it into one of 2009’s most successful R rated releases – certainly the most profitable. It was a Cinderella story (with screaming and shaky camera work) that gave us all something to cheer last October. One year later, here comes the sequel. Paranormal Activity 2 was made for $3 million but, aside from that, not a lot has changed. Audiences made PA2 Friday’s number one film with a very impressive $19 million from 3,216 locations. That estimate includes the film’s record setting $6.3 million earned from Thursday midnight screenings. Weekend projections are now expected to top $36 million. That knocks Paramount’s other over-achiever, Jackass 3D, into second place. Finally, Clint Eastwood’s latest film seems to have struck a bad note with audiences and critics alike. The director’s supernatural drama Hereafter went wide this weekend but could only scare up $4 million for a fourth place finish. Full details tomorrow.

In the latest installment of our ongoing podcast series, Running Dialogue, we talk about two new films and one that’s been out for a few weeks but is worth some discussion.  When it comes to Jackass 3D, we had a fun conversation since I was new to the series and Russ and Curt had seen the movies and the show.  We all tried to muster some enthusiasm for Red, but each had our own problems with the film.  Finally, although Russ hadn’t seen it, he was cool with Curt and me discussing Catfish.  We save that discussion for the end since we go into heavy spoilers and you should try going into that film knowing as little as possible (but do go into it since Curt and I agree that it’s a great movie).

Click here to listen to the new episode.  Also, you can hit the jump for a list of all the movies we’ve recommended so far. Finally, click here to add Running Dialogue to your RSS feed.

Since Jackass 3D has been a huge success, making $50.4 million over the weekend, Paramount is considering possibly using additional footage from the film as another sequel.  According to star Johnny Knoxville, the crew shot enough footage to make another movie, and much of what they shot never made it to Paramount.  The studio’s original plan was to release the material as an online follow-up like Jackass 2.5, but plans may change after the success of Jackass 3D.  A decision will likely be made in the next few days, according to the LA Times.  Hit the jump for more including what was left out of the film and the future of the franchise.

On Friday we told you that Jackass 3D had secured fall’s single-day debut record with over $21 million and that the sequel seemed destined to become one of the season’s all-time weekend champs with a projection of over $40 million. Turns out that the Jackass boys were destined for bigger things. With an estimated $50 million from 3,081 locations, the third installment in the franchise now holds both the October and the all-time fall weekend record – eclipsing Scary Movie 3’s $48.1 million set in 2003.