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Joshua Pasch: I am really blown away by this total. If you saw my comments after Social Network opened, I thought maybe, maybe, it would break out to these types of figures. But I had really no idea that this one had a shot at these types of numbers. I am as floored as that guy in the Jackass preview when he gets smacked by the giant hand. If anything I thought this one with trend down a bit from Jackass 2, which felt a bit like an overachiever four years ago. Knoxville and his crew seem less relevant today than they did then, and Knoxville, who once looked like he was going to break out (with leading turns in Dukes of Hazzard and The Ringer) seems less popular as well.

What I don't get is why this movie over-performs by at least $20 million, but the third Step Up flick under-performs by at least $5-10 million. I'm not saying that Step Up 3D is high art and deserving of more, but it was also a franchise that was previously trending up, and it seemingly utilized 3D in a similar fashion (non-immersive, in your face 3D that seems to work with its unique content of either stunts or dance moves).

Reagen Sulewski: It was obvious that Jackass and 3D were a marriage made like chocolate and peanut butter, which then has something disgusting done to it. If you're going to see a movie where people do stupid and incredibly dangerous things for your amusement, why wouldn't you be more excited to see that in 3D? Really all that was left to wonder was how much of an effect this would have, and it's clear it's more than any of us were expected.

The difference between this and something like Step Up isn't that hard to see, in my opinion - 3D doesn't really add anything to people dancing, but it does when they're getting flung through the air in a porta-potty.

Edwin Davies: I'm not surprised that it opened higher than the previous films - as others have pointed out, the increased prices for 3D would ensure healthy numbers - but I am pretty stunned that it opened so much higher than expectations.

It's really a perfect storm of groin-kicking that has come together to make this film a success; a build-up of demand since the second film; a gimmick that is perfectly suited to the crazy stunts that are par for the course with the series; and a lack of similarly ridiculous fare in an October that has been dominated by more adult (and better) fare. It's also worth noting that, unlike other franchises, the participants in Jackass don't generally do other things outside of the films, so it's not like the audience tire of them through over-exposure.

Kim Hollis: I am both surprised and not surprised. While I supposed that this movie would probably be able to open near $30 million, I have to say that the trailer was so good (yes, it really is) that it made me watch an episode of Jackass...for the first time ever. I had never seen either of the films or watched the series, and I say that as a person who really, really (really) likes Johnny Knoxville (yes, I am that person). Every time I saw that trailer with an audience, it killed. The fact that they were touting the 3D was the icing on the cake that made it a must-see in theaters instead of something that was maybe a wait-for-video film for a lot of people otherwise.

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