Jackass: The Movie

Jackass: The Movie is a 2002 American reality film directed by Jeff Tremaine with the tagline "Do not attempt this at home." It is a riskier and uncensored continuation of the stunts and pranks by the various characters of the MTV television series Jackass, which had completed its series run by this time. The film was produced by Dickhouse Productions and MTV Films and released by Paramount Pictures.

The show features all of the original Jackass cast, including Johnny Knoxville, Steve-O, Chris Pontius, Party Boy, Dave England, Bam Margera, Preston Lacy, Ryan Dunn, Ehren McGhehey and Jason "Wee Man" Acuña. Brandon DiCamillo and Raab Himself also appear but not as frequently as in the show.

Other regular Jackass personalities who made appearances include Rake Yohn, Manny Puig, Phil Margera, and April Margera. In addition, Rip Taylor, Henry Rollins, Spike Jonze, boxing star Butterbean, Mat Hoffman, and Tony Hawk make cameo appearances.

Uncensored version of the TV show
Because of the nature of the film, everyone involved knew they could get away with doing stunts that would never get past television network censors. To that end, they included skits that involved profanity, extreme stunts (such as Rocket Skates, which was filmed for the television show but wasn't allowed to air due to the network censors), and extremely crude humor (such as Butt X-Ray, which involves inserting a toy car wrapped in a condom into Ryan Dunn's rectum and getting X-rays of the car inside his anus, or Dave England defecating in a display toilet in a plumbing store showroom).

"Failed ending"
In the ending of the film, Johnny Knoxville is launched from a catapult into a pond, where Rip Taylor sits in a boat, announcing that "this is the end." This is followed with the credits being shown over outtakes from the film. The original ending for the film was supposed to be a Rube Goldberg-type contraption, with each of the cast members performing a stunt that either has something to do with what they did on the show (for example, the first stunt would have Preston as "The Human Wrecking Ball", knocking him into a Port-A-Potty), or simply for a sight gag (such as Ehren being knocked over in the Port-A-Potty and landing on a bed of toilet paper rolls), ending with Johnny being launched off the catapult next to Rip Taylor. However, as the entire contraption didn't work together the way they wanted it to, the producers of the film decided to try filming an alternate ending, which is how they came to film the "Son Of Jackass" skit. The Son Of Jackass skit involves dressing all the performers in 'old man' clothing and having them run around exploding buildings and sheds, with only Steve-O surviving to proclaim "Yeah, dude." In the cast commentary, it is said that this is ironic as Steve-O is the least likely to even reach old age. Some bits of the failed ending were incorporated into the end credits montage, like the penis skateboarder and the giant Plinko machine.

Cut out
Because of the sensitive nature of some of the stunts, as well as the possibility of legal action, some parts of the film had to be edited out. One example of this is in the Riot Control Test skit. In this skit, Johnny Knoxville is shot at with a beanbag projectile from a pump-action shotgun.

The first time Knoxville is shot at, the shot goes wide, which makes him extremely nervous. The scene was later edited out as, while the "Jackass" crew could waive civil liability, they could not waive criminal liability. Hence should Johnny or any cast member have been killed or grievously injured as a result of a stunt, the producers of the film could possibly be held liable on the grounds of negligent or reckless homicide or battery. While Knoxville and other Jackass participants are clearly aware of the risks involved in their stunts, the threat of criminal liability was significant enough that the Los Angeles law firm Irell & Manella advised cutting out segments which could potentially be used as evidence in such a case.

In addition, the final skit in the film called "Butt X-Ray" was edited to remove the insertion of the toy car into Ryan Dunn's anus, the reason being that displaying the insertion might have been considered pornographic or otherwise highly objectionable by the MPAA, and could have earned the film an NC-17 rating, severely limiting its distribution.

Japanese version
Since some scenes of the film were shot in Tokyo, Japan, a special edited version was made and screened for Japanese audiences. Some bits were edited out for legal reasons (especially scenes showing people's faces without their consent); however, they were placed back in for the special DVD version.

A reason for filming extensively in Japan is that laws requiring non-consenting participants to have their faces censored do not apply in Japan.

Sequels
Jackass: The Movie was filmed with a modest budget of approximately $5 million, but earned more than $22 million during its opening weekend, effectively managing to secure the top spot at the box office for its debut. It eventually grossed more than $64 million in North America alone. At the time, the cast and crew said many times that a sequel to Jackass: the Movie would never be made. On September 22, 2006, Paramount Pictures released Jackass Number Two. According to Rip Taylor, the sequel was to be called "Son of Jackass." This was a joke, of course, but Knoxville replied, "To answer all the questions from the first film?" In late December 2007, a direct-to-video feature titled Jackass 2.5 was compiled from outtakes shot during the making of the second film and released. In December 2009, Paramount Pictures and MTV Films issued a press release that a second sequel titled Jackass 3D will be released October 15, 2010. The movie will be filmed in 3D starting in January 2010.