'Bad Grandpa' Earns $1.4 Million in Opening Night

The Jackass spinoff film Bad Grandpa pulled in a solid $1.4 million on Thursday in its opening night.

The Hollywood Reporter notes that Paramount Pictures predicts an opening somewhere between $16 million and $20 million for the weekend, which would fall far below the last two Jackass movies. Rival studios, though, expect the movie to meet or surpass the $30 million mark "considering the strength of the gross-out franchise."

A Paramount inside source tells the site that Bad Grandpa is tracking on the same path as Carrie, which earned $16.1 million in its opening weekend despite numerous projections that the remake would earn more than $30 million.

THR points out that the summer comedy This is the End, which has the same core audience as Bad Grandpa, earned $2.2 million on its Thursday debut en route to a $20.7 million opening weekend.

Bad Grandpa could dethrone Gravity as the top film at the box office this weekend. The 3D space film, which stars George Clooney and Sandra Bullock, is entering its fourth weekend in theaters and has earned $177.2 million domestically. THR reports that the film could haul in another $20 million or more this weekend.

Bad Grandpa stars Johnny Knoxville as Irving Zisman, an ornery 86-year-old man, and Jackson Nicoll as his eight-year-old grandson, Billy. The two take a road trip across America with a hidden camera as they perform stunts and pranks on people. They deal with male strippers, angry child beauty pageant contestants, bikers and other assorted characters.

The film is the first in the Jackass franchise to actually have a semblance of a plot and cost just $15 million to make.