‘Moonfall’ already trailing ‘Jackass Forever’ at the box office by more than 50%

There was a modicum of surprise earlier this week when the most recent box office projections saw Jackass Forever handily defeating Roland Emmerich’s Moonfall to take the top spot at this weekend’s box office charts, but it makes a lot more sense now that both movies are in wide release.

The return of Johnny Knoxville and the crew holds an impressive Rotten Tomatoes score of 89%, which will surely see it go down in the history books as one of, if not the single most acclaimed gross-out comedy in the history of cinema should it maintain such a high level of adulation.

On the other side of the coin, Roland Emmerich’s return to the disaster arena has been getting savaged, with Moonfall slumping to a 42% rating. That’s not awful, but when the most complimentary thing people can say about a $140 million blockbuster is “it’s okay in a so-bad-it’s-good kind of way”, it isn’t a badge of honor, either.

Looking at the Thursday preview numbers, though, Jackass Forever is poised to positively destroy Moonfall among audiences. The fourth installment in the franchise nabbed $1.65 million last night, compared to the $700,000 raked in by Halle Berry and Patrick Wilson’s attempt to kick the sh*t out of the planet’s orbiting natural satellite.

Jackass Forever also comes packing a production budget of just $10 million, so there’s only one winner already from both a critical and commercial standpoint, and it’s barely even Friday afternoon.