'Jackass Forever' Tops The US Box Office With $23.5M; 'Moonfall' Follows At $10M

Johnny Knoxville and his knockabout henchmen took over the U.S. weekend box office with “Jackass Forever,” bringing in $23.5 million from 3,604 theaters.

What Happened: Released by Paramount Pictures, a ViacomCBS CMCSA division, the stunt comedy “Jackass Forever” was the rare top grossing film of the pandemic-era cinema that was not an action-adventure or horror film.

Roland Emmerich’s “Moonfall” from Lionsgate (NYSE: LGF-A) was the weekend’s second highest grossing release with $10 million from 3,446 theaters. “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” which was the top-grossing film for six of the last seven weekends, placed third by bringing Sony Pictures SONY $9.6 million from 3,600 screens.

Rounding out the top five list of top grossing films were Paramount’s “Scream” with $4.7 million from 3,227 screens and the animated “Sing 2” from Comcast’s CMCSA Universal Pictures with $4.17 million from 3,266 venues.

What Happens Next: For the upcoming weekend, three films packed with major stars will be opening nationwide.

Liam Neeson returns to the big screen in the action-adventure flick “Blacklight” from Open Road Films, the distribution joint venture between AMC Entertainment Holdings AMC and Regal Entertainment Group.

Kenneth Branagh directs and stars as Agatha Christie’s master detective Hercule Poirot in the Walt Disney Co.’s DIS  “Death on the Nile.” The all-star mystery – whose release has been delayed several times – features Gal Gadot, Armie Hammer, Annette Bening, Sophie Okonedo and Russell Brand.

Jennifer Lopez and Owen Wilson headline Universal’s romantic comedy “Marry Me,” which co-stars Sarah Silverman and the Colombian singer Maluma. “Marry Me” will also be simultaneously streamed on Peacock.

Among the films opening in limited release are Greenwich Entertainment’s documentary “Ronnie’s” about jazz saxophonist Ronnie Scott and the romantic drama “What About Love” starring Sharon Stone and Andy Garcia – this film was shot in Romania in 2012 but is only now getting screened via the indie distributor XW Studios.

Also Happening: Monica Vitti, the Italian actress who became a global cinema icon during the early 1960s through a series of bold and innovative emotional dramas, passed away on Feb. 2 at the age of 90 due to complications from Alzheimer’s.

Through her collaborations with Michelangelo Antonioni in the classics “L’Avventura” (1960) “La Notte” (1961), “L’Eclisse” (1962) and “Red Desert” (1965), Vitti captivated audiences as the enigmatic focal point of the director’s challenging productions. During their creative peak, Vitti and Antonioni maintained an off-screen romantic relationship that ended after “Red Desert” and they would not collaborate again until “The Mystery of Oberwald” in 1980.

Vitti’s stardom did not require Hollywood – she reportedly declined offers to work in American films because she feared her English was unsatisfactory, although she starred in the British comedy “Modesty Blaise” (1966) for Joseph Losey and the independently produced “An Almost Perfect Affair” (1979) for Michael Ritchie. She was a ubiquitous and award-winning presence in Italian cinema throughout the 1970s and 1980s, albeit in many films that were not released outside of Italy. 

Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi expressed his "deep grief" upon learning of her passing and praised her as an "actress of great irony and extraordinary talent that has conquered generations of Italians with her spirit, her skills, her beauty."

Photo: A moment of triumph from "Jackass Forever," courtesy of Paramount.