I saw a lot of awesome movie footage at this year's Comic-Con. While many things impressed me, only one thing made me laugh so hard that I almost couldn't take it: Jackass 3D. In an abandoned parking lot last Friday night, Paramount showed about 8 minutes of the movie in a converted trailer and it played huge. Literally everyone I spoke with afterwards was raving about the footage and if you're a fan of the Jackass franchise, it looks like the 3rd film is going to be the best.
Also, this isn't some converted 3D movie like Clash of the Titans or Last Airbender. When they shot Jackass 3, they used 3D cameras and it shows! During the 8 minutes of footage we saw some crazy stunts and it looked amazing in 3D. While Jeffrey Katzenberg and James Cameron have been raving about 3D and how it can help the movie going experience, I'm wondering what they'll say when they see Steve-O in a portopotie getting thrown around with feces flying everywhere - including on the cameras and in his mouth. It was some of the sickest and most awesome movie footage I have ever seen. Much more after the jump:
As I said, Paramount held the Jackass 3D event Friday night by creating a beer garden in an abandoned parking lot near Comic-Con. They invited a ton of press, and they also opening it up to regular folks. Of course no beer garden would be complete without beer, so they set up a bar in the middle of the parking lot serving a lot of alcohol in Jackass beercoozies.
While we waited for the presentation to start, the cast of Jackass was mingling with the crowd and they were taking pictures and answering fan questions. Unlike some press opportunities at Comic-Con, there were no ropes or distance between the guests of honor and everyone in attendance.
After a few drinks and some socializing, we eventually sat down in the trailer to watch the footage.
The thing to know is…the first half (or maybe even the first 70% of the footage) seemed like test footage for doing the movie in 3D. The footage was almost all in slow motion, but the depth in the frame was incredible. The footage featured a lot of the cast on a soundstage getting pummeled. One of the scenes had someone getting hit by a paintball gun a crazy amount of times and the entire sequence was perfectly shot for 3D.
The camera started on the left and dollied to the right. As it dollied, the person in the center of the frame was close to the camera while the person getting shot was further back so you could really see the distance. As the camera moved, the shooter looked at the camera and was smiling while firing. Towards the end of the shot, he let at least 15 bullets fly and with the sequence being done in slow motion and in 3D, it was amazing. We were all laughing hysterically while the person getting shot was screaming in pain. Typical Jackass.
After watching a bunch of test footage (which all looked great), we finally got to a sequence that looked and felt like Jackass.
If you ever saw Poo Cocktail, the sequence shown was a newer version called Poo Cocktail Supreme and it featured Steve-O in a portopotie attached to two huge cranes and a bungie cord.
The set-up is Steve-O is sitting on the seat. The entire portopotie has already been filled with feces. After someone cuts the cord, the portopotie flies up what looks like hundreds of feet in the air and the feces literally goes everywhere. Imagine shit flying at the camera, on Steve-O, on his face, his open mouth…everywhere. And unlike the previous Jackass stunts, it's all in 3D and it looks like it's flying at you. While some of you might think this is wrong on many levels, I haven't laughed that hard in a very long time. Seriously. If I could have watched the entire movie that night, I might have declared Jackass 3D the best film of the year. It was that good.
Of course when Steve-O landed and someone had to get him out of the chair, everyone started throwing up. More laughter. Steve-O finally got up and he's covered in shit and then started to chase down people to cover them in feces. Cue even more laughter. Again, the Jackass 3D footage couldn't have played any better.
After that sequence we saw a few other things and they all looked great in 3D and everything was extremely funny. I really mean it when I say, I could not be more excited for this film. Based on the footage shown at Comic-Con, I am 100% sure Paramount is going to make a lot of money later this year. Also, everyone is going to be talking about the movie when they finally start to see footage and the trailer in 3D.
Unlike some films that play it safe with 3D and only use it sparingly, I think the new format has actually inspired and refreshed the Jackass franchise. Since I only saw the footage once and didn't take any notes (deal with it, I wanted to enjoy the footage) I can't really write about all the little scenes and shots they showed us that demonstrated why the 3D looked so good and so funny. Just take my word for it.
Circle October 15th on your calendar. That's the day you're going to be crying in your local theater from laughing too hard.
Since Paramount showed us footage at Comic-Con and with the release date only a few months away, I'd imagine we're going to get a trailer any day now. We'll obviously post it as soon as it goes online. Also, I didn't take any pictures while the event was going as I didn't have my camera. The images in this article were taken while Paramount was setting up.