After three weeks at the top, “Gravity” finally fell at the box office. It wasn’t space debris that knocked it from orbiting the top spot; it was Johnny Knoxville and the “Jackass” crew’s “Bad Grandpa.”
Paramount and MTV Films’ new comedy — the first “Jackass” feature to rely on a narrative plot — earned $12.6 million on Friday night and will likely earn a big $29 million for the weekend. The R-rated film reportedly cost just $15 million to produce.
However, “Grandpa” won’t hit the same heights as “Jackass 3D.” The 2010 threequel opened to a massive $50.3 million on its way to a total of $117 million.
At No. 2, Alfonso Cuaron’s “Gravity,” starring George Clooney and Sandra Bullock, picked up another $6.1million and will easily cross the $200 million mark by Monday.
In third place was the Tom Hanks drama “Captain Phillips,” which captured another $3.6 million.
The Paul Greengrass-directed film has so far earned $61.8 million domestically.
Meanwhile, “The Counselor,” this weekend’s other big wide opener, crashed and burned on Friday, despite the big name talent involved.
The Fox drama scraped up just $3.2 million on Friday, and will likely top out at $9 million for the weekend.
Written by Cormac McCarthy (“No Country For Old Men”), and directed by Ridley Scott (“Alien,” “Gladiator”), “Counselor” features an A-list cast including Brad Pitt, Michael Fassbender, Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz and Cameron Diaz.
Sony’s “Carrie” remake rounded out the top five, as the film continues to struggle among the competition. It scared up $1.9 million for a domestic total of $22 million.
At this rate, it may have a hard time even matching the $33.8 million total earned by the original — nearly forty years ago.
Look for complete box office estimates for the weekend on Sunday.