New at BOP: Review: Matrix Resurrections Movie Review: Moonfall Movie Reviews: Scream The #1 Movie in America November Forecast The Many Saints of Newark October Forecast New Trivia Question All site updates Share & Save   Tweet Print this column

Monty Burns had it right.

Kim Hollis: With Jackass 3D, do you think it was elevated by the 3D or is there something else at play in its stunning success?

Josh Spiegel: I think the 3D plays a huge part, unquestionably. I don't think that's the only thing that contributes to this film's bigger success, but having higher prices helps inflate the weekend numbers. Also, as I mentioned elsewhere this week on the site, the first film came out when I was just a freshman in college, and the series started when I was in high school. All of those kids are adults now, and some were probably very psyched about any new Jackass movie, 3D or not. Also, I can't imagine how much marketing the show got on MTV, which has two of the most successful TV shows for teenagers right now, so they probably got excited about such a crazy new movie.

Matthew Huntley: The 3D aspect obviously played a role in terms of raw dollars earned, but I think Jackass's overall performance can be attributed to viewers craving a fun, stupid experience at the movies. If you think about it, the last few weeks have seen serious films top the box-office (The Town, Wall Street, The Social Network), and although they've generally been good and mostly adored by critics audiences, they don't exactly allow you to check your brain at the door. As good of a thing as this is, sometimes all we want is to watch something that doesn't make us think, and Jackass is the epitomic manifestation of that.

Bruce Hall: There's no accounting for age. I started college around the time Beavis and Butt-Head was getting started, and I STILL find myself chortling at their stupidity. As I suggested in the first topic, I think that there's something about human nature that makes us enjoy watching others fail, because it somehow allows us to feel a little bit better about ourselves without actually having to accomplish anything. But whereas YouTube is filled with skateboard crashes and unintentional face plants, the Jackass gang put themselves through this stuff intentionally. As a guy who in many ways hasn't matured much since his 18th birthday, I can tell you that there's something about the premise that can't help but appeal to the mischievous adolescent in me. For some people, no matter how educated or mature you are sometimes you just want to turn your brain off and watch stupid people do stupid things with fire.

And monkeys. Monkeys are funny.

I think that the er..."genius" of Jackass is that more adults than you'd think still get a chuckle out of this, and are either willing to go themselves or willing to let their kids go. Evidently for Jackass 3D, I am reading that 60% of viewers were male, and 67% were under age 25. That's not necessarily all teenagers, and it also means that 33% of these people were NOT under 25. I think there are a lot of kids, a lot of people Josh's age, and a lot of 30-somethings like me who still find this kind of crap amusing. The addition of 3D really seems like a natural fit for this sort of idiocy and if you're anything like me, a light bulb went off in your head when you first heard about it the same way it did when you first saw Mystery Science Theater:

"Of COURSE! Why didn't I think of that!"





In the case of MST3K most people DID, it just never occurred to them to film themselves doing it. In the case of Jackass, I'd just like to keep all my original body parts right where they are, thank you.

Brett Beach: For a show that lasted only three seasons/15 months/25 episodes to give birth to a movie trilogy with a combined domestic gross (so far) of $185 million against $35 million in budgets is one of the more impressive trends of the last decade. Jackass continues to be a cultural phenomenon and in this case 3D simply helped add to its appeal. Spacing these out as they have done and delivering precisely what the audience wants has helped perpetuate an endless circle of quality supply, at a leisurely pace, to inflame ravenous demand. I don't pretend to understand, but I will be making Number Two in Chapter Two at some point, I guess.

Kim Hollis: I will point back to that audience-drawing trailer as well as agreeing with Matt's point earlier. Sometimes, we just want big dumb fun. I know that "check your brain" is a phrase that annoys Josh in particular, but there's a reason that sometimes I like to read James Joyce's Ulysses while other times I just want something fun like Harry Potter. There are times I really crave challenge, and there are times I want escapism. I was very, very close to going to see Jackass 3D this weekend and I say that as someone about as far out of that film's target demographic as possible. They did the job with the marketing on this one.

Continued:       1       2       3       4