Box Office: 'Jackass: Bad Grandpa' No. 1 With $32 Million; 'The Counselor' D.O.A. 
 
 UPDATED: "Gravity" finally falls to No. 2 as it races towards the $200 million mark domestically; "12 Years a Slave" lands in top 10 chart despite playing in only 123 theaters. 
 
 Paramount and MTV Films' Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa -- featuring Johnny Knoxville and child sidekick Jackson Nicoll -- easily topped North American box office after delivering a $32 million opening and dethroning blockbuster space epic Gravity. 
 
 After staying at No. 1 for three weeks, Warner Bros.' Gravity slipped to No. 2, falling 32 percent to $20.3 million. The 3D space epic will cross the $200 million mark domestically sometime on Sunday or Monday, and has now earned $364 million worldwide after topping the foreign chart for the weekend with $36.6 million, putting its international total at $164.4 million. 
 
 STORY: Box Office Lesson: Older Crowd Prefers Seasoned Stars, Shuns Youngsters 
 
 Bad Grandpa, the first Jackass film to have any sort of plot, stars Knoxville as signature character Irving Zisman, a crotchety 86-year-old, and Nicoll as 8-year-old grandson Billy. The outrageous duo embark on a hidden-camera road trip across America, performing stunts and punking people. Along the way they encounter, among others, male strippers, disgruntled child beauty pageant contestants and bikers. 
 
 The comedy opened well behind the last Jackass film (there are three in total). In October 2010, Jackass 3D debuted to a sizzling $50.4 million. Jackass: Number Two opened to $29 million in late September 2006, while the first Jackass, opening in late October 2002, debuted to $22.8 million. 
 
 Paramount vice chairman Rob Moore stressed that Bad Grandpa is a spin-off, versus a continuation of the gross-out franchise, and that it actually has much more in common with Borat than with the other Jackass films. 
 
 "The movie is executed ala Borat, where Knoxville's character is interacting with real people and doing crazy things," Moore said. He noted that Bad Grandpa played differently than other Jackass movies in drawing older moviegoers (69 percent of Jackass 3-D's audience was under the age of 25, compared to 37 percent for Bad Grandpa) as well as more females (44 percent, versus 39 percent). 
 
 Overseas, Bad Grandpa opened to an impressive $8.1 million from 16 territories, on par with Jackass 3-D and three times bigger than Jackass 2. The U.K. led with $3.2 million, bigger than the three Jackass films, followed by a stellar $3.1 million in Germany. 
 
 Jeff Tremaine returns to direct, and he produces alongside Knoxville, Spike Jonze and Derek Freda. Knoxville is the only Jackass regular to appear in the film, which received a B CinemaScore. 
 
 Ridley Scott's star-packed drama The Counselor, from an original screenplay by No Country for Old Men author Cormac McCarthy (his first), quickly fizzled, grossing an unimpressive $8 million to come in No. 4 behind Bad Grandpa, Gravity and Captain Phillips. 
 
 Moviegoers gave The Counselor a rare D CinemaScore despite Scott's pedigree and stars Michael Fassbender, Penelope Cruz, Cameron Diaz, Javier Bardem and Brad Pitt. It may fare better overseas, where it began rolling out this weekend in a handful of markets, including Brazil. 
 
 The Counselor, starring Fassbender as a greedy lawyer who gets caught up with drug traffickers, received mostly negative reviews. Insiders say the film was a vanity project for Scott, but that it reportedly cost only $25 million to make, with talent taking a drastically reduced fee in order to work with Scott. 
 
 Scott, who has longtime ties to Fox, last directed Prometheus for the studio. 
 
 "The movie had some big grosses in big city, core runs, where audiences are more likely to be looking for challenging, provocative filmmaking," said Fox domestic marketing president Chris Aronson. The movie skewed notably older, with 85 percent of the audience over the age of 25. 
 
 Sony had two reasons to crow this weekend. Paul Greengrass' Somali pirate drama Captain Phillips, starring Tom Hanks, continued to enjoy a strong hold in its third weekend, falling 28 percent to $11.8 million to place No. 3. The drama has now earned $70.1 million domestically. 
 
 Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2, also from Sony, placed No. 5 in its fifth weekend, grossing $6.1 million to jump the $100 million mark in North America. 
 
 While The Counselor may have bombed, the Fox empire is succeeding at the box office with Steve McQueen's 12 Years a Slave. The Fox Searchlight film, expanding into a total of 123 theaters in is second weekend, zoomed up to No. 8, grossing $2.2 million for a 10-day total of $3.4 million. New Regency and River Road co-financed and produced the film alongside Brad Pitt and Dede Gardner's Plan B Entertainment. 
 
 The other big headline at the specialty box office was Abdellatif Kechiche's French film Blue Is the Warmest Color, which is opening to solid business in New York and Los Angeles for IFC Films, grossing $101,116 from four theaters for a location average of $25,279. 
 
 STORY: 'Blue Is the Warmest Color' Director Slams 'Arrogant, Spoiled' Star in Open Letter 
 
 The steamy lesbian drama is rated NC-17, meaning that no one under 17 is allowed in. However, the IFC Center in New York has announced it will allow in teenagers it deems appropriate, regardless of age (the ratings system is voluntary). 
 
 In recent days, the war of words between Kechiche and star Lea Seydoux has escalated, with the filmmaker calling her an "arrogant, spoiled child" who said "slanderous" things about him in an effort to gain attention following the film's Palme d’Or win at the Cannes Film Festival in May. "Thus after having been celebrated and glorified thanks to the Palme d’Or won by Blue Is the Warmest Color, she started to drag me through the mud with lies and exaggerations," he said in an interview earlier this week. 
 
 Twitter: @PamelaDayM ||||| What goes up must come down, and so "Gravity" finally did this weekend, falling to the runner-up position as "Bad Grandpa" ruled the box office. 
 
 Johnny Knoxville's hidden-camera prank flick was an easy No. 1 this weekend, debuting with a robust $32 million, according to an estimate from distributor Paramount Pictures. After three weekends atop the charts, "Gravity" came in second with $20.3 million, meaning the 3-D space film is now a stone's throw from another box-office milestone with its overall gross of $199.8 million. 
 
 The only other film that opened nationwide this weekend, the dramatic thriller "The Counselor," flopped. A star-heavy cast headlined by Michael Fassbender, Cameron Diaz and Javier Bardem couldn't attract moviegoers, as the film opened with just $8 million. 
 
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 Heading into the weekend, "Bad Grandpa" pre-release audience surveys indicated that the movie was generating the most interest among young males. But mostly older men turned up to see the film, as 63% of the opening weekend crowd was over the age of 25. Only 33% of those who saw 2010's "Jackass 3-D" — the last film released under Knoxville's "Jackass" banner — were over 25. 
 
 “I think that shows that the franchise’s fans are getting older,” said Megan Colligan, Paramount’s president of domestic distribution. “But I think it also had something to do with the main character being older — the narrative provided something that people thought was sweet.” 
 
 "Bad Grandpa" follows Knoxville as he disguises himself as an 86-year-old traveling cross-country with his 8-year-old grandson (Jackson Nicoll). Together, the two pull over-the-top pranks on random strangers. The movie, which has received decent reviews, earned an average grade of B from moviegoers, according to market research firm CinemaScore. 
 
 The picture was financed by Paramount for $15 million, meaning it should be a solid performer for the studio. Paramount has done well over the years with the "Jackass" franchise, which began as an offshoot of the popular MTV series on which a group of friends performed outlandish stunts. Not adjusting for inflation, "Bad Grandpa" — whose title officially begins with "Jackass Presents" — got off to a better start than the first two installments in the "Jackass" series, though it couldn't top the impressive $50.4-million opening of "Jackass 3-D." With $117 million in domestic ticket sales, the 3-D version went on to become the highest-grossing of the three "Jackass" films. 
 
 REVIEW: Johnny Knoxville's 'Bad Grandpa' is higher-brow lowbrow 
 
 On paper, it seemed "The Counselor" had the potential to attract plenty of moviegoers: The movie has a well-known director in Ridley Scott and stars A-listers such as Diaz, Brad Pitt and Penélope Cruz. But the movie only notched a 35% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and the few who saw it this weekend disliked it too, assigning the picture an average grade of D. 
 
 “It’s challenging filmmaking and we did not get good reviews, which is unfortunate,” acknowledged Chris Aronson, president of domestic distribution for 20th Century Fox, which distributed the film. The studio executive said the movie played best in big cities, “where audiences are more likely to be looking for that challenging fare.” The few who the movie appealed to this weekend were older, he added, noting that a whopping 85% of the crowd was over the age of 25. 
 
 If there's any silver lining to the poor opening weekend, its that the movie wasn't too expensive to produce. Fox said it co-financed the movie with the Seelig Group and Ingenious Media for $25 million. The film, written by Cormac McCarthy, stars Fassbender as an upscale lawyer who gets involved with a group of criminals when he begins smuggling drugs. 
 
 Fassbender saw better results this weekend with his other movie currently in theaters, "12 Years a Slave," in which he plays a cruel plantation master. The historical drama, directed by Steve McQueen, expanded from 19 theaters to 123 locations and fared pretty well, breaking into the weekend's top 10. The Fox Searchlight release took in $2.2 million, meaning its per-cinema average was a respectable $17,480 — a sign that the best-picture hopeful may not become a huge commercial hit, but is still on pace to do some healthy business at the box office. In the 10 days since the film hit theaters, it has collected a total of $3.4 million. 
 
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– Gravity finally came down to Earth this weekend, relinquishing its No. 1 place at the box office to Johnny Knoxville's prank-fueled Bad Grandpa. The Jackass genre flick fooled $32 million out of moviegoers, while the Sandra Bullock-starring space thriller earned another $20.3 million—bringing its overall gross to an out-of-this world $199.8 million, the LA Times reports. Not even in the same orbit, widely-panned Ridley Scott star vehicle The Counselor debuted to a meager $8 million, putting it at No. 4. It was bested by Tom Hanks-fronted Somali pirate film Captain Phillips, which plundered $11.8 million in its third week, per the Hollywood Reporter. And at No. 5, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 grossed $6.1 million.