Jackass: Best And Last Set An Unwanted Box Office Record For The Franchise

Johnny Knoxville and the gang are calling it quits, with "Jackass: Best and Last" representing the final movie in the long-running comedy franchise. Unfortunately, for Knoxville and Paramount Pictures, the guys are going out on a low note, as "Best and Last" had the lowest opening weekend at the box office in the history of the property.

Directed by franchise shepherd Jeff Tremaine, the latest "Jackass" movie opened to $8.4 million domestically. It also brought in just $1.9 million overseas, giving it a $10.3 million global start. For contrast, "Jackass: Forever" won the weekend box office with a $23 million debut in 2022, going on to make $80.5 million worldwide. So, this is a pretty big step down. At the same time, expectations were always going to be lower for this one.

"Best and Last" is more of a greatest hits movie featuring some unearthed archival footage to go along with several new bits. Paramount, to its credit, marketed the movie honestly and didn't try to bait-and-switch more casual moviegoers. This was a swan song for hardcore fans, and it was budgeted accordingly. With a mere $10 million budget, it should still be a profitable venture for all involved, when all's said and done.

This film certainly isn't as big of a deal as 2002's "Jackass: The Movie," which made the leap to the big screen from MTV after the show became too controversial to keep on the air. The debut feature in the franchise opened to $22.7 million 24 years ago, which previously represented the property's low bar in terms of opening weekend numbers. If nothing else, the soft debut frame signifies that Knoxville and Co. are picking the right time to call it quits.

"Jackass Forever" was just as outlandish as anything the guys had ever done before, and it was special because the franchise had been dormant since 2010's "Jackass 3D." (Recall that 2013's "Bad Grandpa" was more of a spin-off that didn't involve most of the core cast.)

"Jackass: Best and Last" wound up feeling like less of a cinematic event in comparison, and that's part of the reason why the opening weekend number was so low, relatively speaking. But again, Paramount probably didn't expect this film to do typical "Jackass" numbers. The benefit of producing something like this for such a low figure is that you're kind of playing with house money.

Indeed, the studio will generate more than $10 million from interest in the "Jackass" library as a result of the new movie alone. It can also now sell complete "Jackass" box sets, while the actual film will probably become a huge hit on VOD before streaming on Paramount+. It's all gravy, even though "Best and Last" has proved to be something of a muted victory lap for one of comedy's most shockingly enduring cinematic enterprises. Don't forget: All of the previous "Jackass" movies were big hits at the box office relative to their tiny production budgets.

This latest entry is going to be the lowest-grossing of the bunch, but it hardly matters in the grand scheme of things. Again, for a major Hollywood studio, $10 million is chump change. This was worth taking a chance on as counterprogramming against "Supergirl," which flopped at the box office in its debut anyway. It was a low risk proposition that's still going to pay off down the line.

"Jackass: Best and Last" is currently in theaters.