'Jackass' has last laugh, ousts Spider-Man from top North America spot

Irreverent but ultimately endearing comedy film "Jackass Forever" managed a serious feat this weekend, swatting Spider-Man out of the top spot to claim supremacy in the North American box-office, industry data showed Sunday.

Paramount's latest iteration of spoofs, gross-out slapstick and painful stunts dreamed up by Johnny Knoxville and his merry pranksters debuted by raking in a cool $23.5 million for the Friday-through-Sunday period, industry watcher Exhibitor Relations estimated.

Twenty years on from its first silver screen release, the franchise has managed to retain some relevance with its fifth installment, and successfully defied Hollywood trends to sneak a pure comedy film -- one made for just $10 million, no less -- into the number one spot.

"It's extremely hard to keep it fresh and funny for this long, but Jackass is doing that. Reviews are outstanding (at this point they are usually poor)," said David A. Gross, who runs Franchise Entertainment Research.

"Moonfall" came in at number two, with a modest $10 million take. The Lionsgate sci-fi disaster flick directed by Roland Emmerich and starring Halle Berry revolves around the rather far-fetched scenario that bits of the Moon are tumbling down onto Earth.

Slipping to third was "Spider-Man: No Way Home," whose spectacular run of late -- the best in the Covid era -- has slowed. Its $9.6 million in sales brought the Sony/Marvel superhero film to a total of $749 million in domestic sales, placing it fourth all-time.

Paramount's latest chapter in the "Scream" franchise dropped to fourth place, grossing $4.7 million. As in the horror flick's 1996 original, Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox and David Arquette again star.

Fifth spot was claimed by Universal's animated musical "Sing 2," which took in $4.2 million. Its all-star voice cast includes Reese Witherspoon, Scarlett Johansson, Matthew McConaughey, Pharrell Williams and Bono.

Rounding out the top 10 were:

"The King's Man" ($1.2 million)

"Redeeming Love" ($1 million)

"American Underdog" ($800,000)

"The 355" ($700,000)

"The Lion and the Wolf" ($675,000)