This Week in Comedy: When comedy cliques! ‘Entourage’ and ‘Bad Grandpa’ make movie headlines

Silver screens turn to gold this week as old comedy makes the movie headlines. Johnny Knoxville's Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa tanks Sandra Bullock's Gravity at the box office. Meanwhile, the hit series Entourage confirms a big screen debut is in the HBO original series' future.

The agony is over! Entourage is officially a ‘go’ for the big screen. Doug Ellin, the show’s writer and producer tweeted the good news Monday night.

Check out my Instagram for behind the scenes pics as we get rolling

— Doug Ellin (@mrdougellin) October 30, 2013

Production began back in January, but ongoing controversy over cast member paychecks put the big screen debut in jeopardy.

Jeremy Piven, who won multiple Emmy awards for his performance as “Ari Gold," a tempestuous talent agent, wrapped up his negotiations with Warner Brothers in October, but is rumored to be at the center of the salary dispute. According to the The Hollywood Reporter, cast members balked at the idea of receiving a less than comparable payday to Piven’s.

At least one cast mate, however, breathed a creative sigh of relief when speaking with The Associated Press less than 24 hours after the news broke. Jerry Ferrara, who plays the Entourage character “Turtle,” explained how the chemistry between the four men was “crucial” because the audience “bought it from moment one that these guys knew each other.”

No arguments here. The four actors are known for playing off each other with an incomparable ‘cool’ equivalent to that of a real Hollywood entourage or just a clique of close buddies. The chemistry, after all, is what brings in the cash at the box-office.

Just ask Johnny Knoxville. His film, Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa relieved Sandra Bullock from her idle place in space with a $32 million opening at the box office.
The film features the former Jackass star as Irving Zisman, a crotchety old man that made the televesion series popular back when it first premiered on MTV. Knoxville and his buddies performed several hilarious skits making the show a hit back in early 2000.

Maybe the next Jackass installment will feature a plot using other old-timers such as “Mexican Snowboarding.”

In reaction to the comedy film’s stellar performance, many analysts have been, well, analytical. “We’ve been waiting for something to beat Gravity and got that with Bad Grandpa,” according to Bloomberg analysts. “It (Bad Grandpa) could threaten $100 million, but R-rated theatrical movies usually don’t have long legs, and the audience is probably thinner for this movie.”

Let’s face it, Bad Grandpa won’t be getting the ‘Best Picture’ nomination anytime soon, but there is something to be said for these kinds of numbers. If Bullock’s movie is losing gravitational pull don’t blame Johnny Knoxville, he’s just a ‘Jackass.’