Sideshow: Best start yet for 'Jackass'

Johnny Knoxville

,

Bam Margera

, and the

Jackass

gang are even bigger hits in three dimensions.

Jackass 3D

, their latest big-screen collection of crazy stunts and antics, opened with a whopping $50 million, soaring past the debuts of their first two movies, according to studio estimates Sunday. Final figures come out Monday.

It was the third straight No. 1 opening for the franchise, which had a $22.8 million opening with 2002's Jackass: The Movie and continued with a $29 million debut for 2006's Jackass Number Two.

"When some guy gets hit in the crotch with a baseball in 2-D, it's one thing, but when he's kind of up in your face and it happens, it's another experience," observed Don Harris, Paramount executive vice president for distribution.

Jackass 3D set a record for biggest October debut, topping the 2003 $48.1 million opening weekend for Scary Movie 3, which sold more tickets than Jackass 3D; the Jackass results reflect ticket-price inflation and the premium for 3-D films.

Premiering at No. 2, with $22.5 million, was the action-comedy Red, starring Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren, John Malkovich, and Mary-Louise Parker in a tale of retired black-ops agents targeted by the CIA.

The Facebook drama The Social Network, which had been No. 1 the previous two weekends, held up well as it slipped to third place with $11 million.

- AP

British filmmaker

Mike Leigh

has canceled a visit to Israel in order to protest a proposed loyalty oath for new citizens. The bill, passed by Israel's cabinet last week, would require non-Jewish immigrants to pledge loyalty to a "Jewish and democratic" state - language considered discriminatory toward Israel's Arab minority.

Leigh, the award-winning director of Naked and Secrets & Lies, was to participate in a film festival next month. He is Jewish.

Writing to the school sponsoring the event, Leigh said he opposed Israel's policies on Gaza, but called the loyalty oath the "last straw."

- AP

A Georgia woman whose 15-year-old daughter appeared on an episode of

Tyra Banks

' talk show featuring teen sex addicts is suing the TV host for $3 million. In a lawsuit filed Oct. 8 in federal court in Atlanta,

Beverly McClendon

says her daughter was flown to New York for the show without her permission, and had not been diagnosed as a sex addict.

A spokesman for Warner Bros. Television Group said the company had no comment. The suit claims violation of privacy and negligence, requests $3 million in damages, and seeks to keep the episode from being shown again. McClendon says her daughter suffered damage because the 2009 show "was undoubtedly watched by sexual deviants, perverts, and pedophiles."

- AP