There was no showdown between the two major new releases this week, with Jackass Forever pulling way ahead of fellow debutant Moonfall—in fact, the slapstick comedy film ended up increasing the margin after Saturday estimates. Jackass Forever made $23.5 million from 3,604 locations, more than doubling its reported $10 million budget for what is shaping up to be Paramount’s second theatrical success of the year.

Director Roland Emmerich’s Moonfall ended up having a closer fight for the number two spot with holdover hit Spider-Man: No Way Home. The disaster film finished the weekend on the lower end of Saturday’s $10 million to $12 million estimates, with $10.1 million across three days. No Way Home followed close behind with $9.6 million.

This is only the second time in eight weeks of release that No Way Home has surrendered the top spot. And the last time it happened (two weeks ago, when Scream debuted with $35 million) it swiftly reclaimed the number one position on the very next weekend. Jackass Forever’s strong debut validates Paramount’s decision to stick to a theater-only release for the film, having established that franchise titles are still pulling dedicated fans—the struggling studio had previously tasted similar success with both A Quiet Place Part II and the Scream reboot.

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Image via Lionsgate

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It’s been over 10 years since the last main entry in the Jackass series was released, and it really seems like Jackass 3D is a relic of a bygone era, back when a mask was something you’d only wear on Halloween (or if you were robbing a bank), and when studios were still cashing in on the 3D craze. By comparison, the third Jackass movie cost twice as much as Jackass Forever, and made more than $50 million in its opening weekend.

Jackass Forever’s success proves that the same set-up can be repeated as long as the punchline is fresh. But the same logic doesn't apply to Moonfall, which is betting hard on foreign audiences after tanking domestically.

Once the king of big-budget disaster films, Emmerich has now directed six commercial under-performers in a row—Anonymous, White House Down, Stonewall, Independence Day: Resurgence, and Midway. Moonfall’s disappointing debut suggests that audiences are more interested in paying to watch a silver-haired Johnny Knoxville take on a bull than a mess of CGI action glued together with a cartoonish premise.

Speaking of which, No Way Home is now just $11.1 million shy of overtaking James Cameron’s Avatar to become the third-highest grossing film of all time. The Sony superhero film, which unites three generations of Spider-Man stars, made $9.6 million this weekend for a third-place finish, taking its domestic total to nearly $750 million. Internationally, the film has made over $1.7 billion, and that’s without a China release.

At number four, Paramount’s Scream made $4.7 million, taking its domestic total to nearly $69 million. That’s a fine result for the fifth film in a franchise that was thought to have lost the audience after the fourth entry. And the studio’s happiness at its success was reflected in the recent confirmation of a Scream 6, which will also be directed by this film’s Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett.

Universal’s Sing 2, which is still playing in over 3,200 theaters, made $4.1 million this weekend, despite being available to rent digitally. The animated sequel has now made nearly $140 million domestically, making it the highest-grossing cartoon movie of the pandemic era.

Next weekend will have three major new releases duking it out at the box office. Kenneth Branagh, whose semi-autobiographical Belfast is poised to score nods at this week’s Oscar nominations, will see the release of Death on the Nile, a follow-up to his 2017 hit Murder on the Orient Express. Meanwhile, Jennifer Lopez-starrer Marry Me and Liam Neeson’s Blacklight will compete for the attention of separate demographics.