Iron Man Smash The Box Office With $104Million

Slightly near to my projection for the 'Ironman' predictions for the box office of USD$90million, it surprisingly pass the USD$100million instead, making its cumulative total to USD$104million plus. To be honestly speaking though, the movie itself amazed me in many ways of a super-hero movie should be. Storyline is good, the script is amazing and effects totally awesome. Johny Stark [Robert Downey Jr.] is the man.

Overall Grade Recommended. - Ibrahem.S




LAST WEEKEND Paramount Pictures and its baby mama Marvel Studios were the proud parents of an explosive new movie franchise as the super hero film Iron Man blasted off to jaw-dropping ticket sales around the world officially kicking off the summer blockbuster season. The comic book actioner led the overall box office to its biggest weekend of the year and accounted for two-thirds of all business in the top ten. Opening in second with commendable numbers was the wedding-themed romantic comedy Made of Honor which gave women not interested in flying metal men something to see. Following a dismal spring season, the summer got started with a bang.

Iron Man crushed its competitors this weekend with a stunning estimate of $100.8M in ticket sales over the Friday-to-Sunday period delivering the tenth largest opening of all-time and the second highest ever for a non-sequel after the $114.8M of 2002's Marvel Comics sibling Spider-Man. The Robert Downey Jr. flick began its run on Thursday at 8pm with advance showtimes grossing $3.5M in the four-hour period ending at midnight, the official start of Friday. That amounted to a gargantuan $104.3M in just over three days easily outdistancing industry expectations which were in the $70-90M range. Co-starring Jeff Bridges, Terrence Howard, and Gwenyth Paltrow, the Jon Favreau-directed blockbuster averaged a stellar $24,543 from a saturation release in 4,105 theaters.

Overseas, Iron Man invaded 57 territories and made off with a terrific $96.8M putting the global launch at a humongous $201M since the first international openings on Wednesday.

In North America, Friday took off with a massive $35.1M in grosses (including shows beginning at midnight on Thursday night). Sales inched up 7% on Saturday to $37.5M which was impressive since many super hero films see their numbers decline on Saturday. The studio is estimating a Sunday drop of only 25% to $28.1M. Audience research showed that an understandable 65% were male while 55% were over 25. Reports on Iron Man's production cost have varied from $140M to $180M, but the negative cost should be easily recouped given the tremendous response worldwide.

In the Marvel stable, only its crown jewel Spider-Man has seen a better franchise debut with the first film's opening amounting to roughly $140M at today's ticket prices. Adjusting for 2008 prices, opening weekends for other first installments from the comic giant would be approximately $71M for 2000's X-Men, $73M for 2003's The Hulk, and $62M for 2005's Fantastic Four. Iron Man's opening zoomed a good $30-40M higher.

Most were not expecting a nine-digit debut from the Tony Stark pic since the Iron Man character is not as well-known as other super heroes like Spider-Man, Batman, or even The Hulk. But a massive marketing push, overwhelmingly positive reviews, and a release on the first weekend of May when no other event films were out helped it to dominate the attention of movie fans everywhere. For Paramount it was the second largest debut in company history trailing only the $121.6M of last May's animated sequel Shrek the Third that it released for DreamWorks. The studio's previous high for a live-action film was with last July's Transformers (another DreamWorks winner) which opened to a Friday-to-Sunday score of $70.5M after a mid-week bow.

Iron Man's success also comes as good news to Marvel since this is its first fully financed and produced picture as part of its new arrangement where it will retain more of the risks and rewards for its future super hero flicks. It would be shocking not to see at least two sequels come out of this franchise so the profits will flow for years to come.

Most multiplexes played Iron Man on multiple screens in order to fulfill intense demand, however Paramount did not report the total number of prints in the marketplace. Looking at recent May behemoths, Spider-Man 3 and 2005's Star Wars Episode III opened with 10,000 and 9,400 prints respectively. It would not be surprising if Iron Man seized control of more than 9,000 total screens as well this weekend.

Despite absorbing so much demand upfront, Iron Man boasts indicators that it could have decent legs. Critics have poured on the praise leading to a staggering 94% score on RottenTomatoes.com which is the best of any wide release this year and tops among all super hero flicks ever. Plus exit polls taken this weekend by CinemaScore have delivered a fantastic A grade making the metal guy one of those rare action movies to be a winner with both critics and ticket buyers alike. Last year Spider-Man 3 met with lukewarm word-of-mouth after its record bow which accounted for a whopping 45% of its eventual final domestic haul of $336.5M. Opening weekend percentages for other high profile openers from the start of May include 28% for Spider-Man, 34% for 2001's The Mummy Returns, and 40% for X2: X-Men United. Given Iron Man's strong buzz and the calendar ahead, a final domestic tally of $250M is certainly within reach. [Source from: boxofficeguru.com]

On the Red Carpet: The Iron Man Premiere