ROTTEN TOMATOES: Box Office Guru Wrapup: Iron Man Soars to Eye-Popping $104M Debut

Box Office Guru Wrapup: Iron Man Soars to Eye-Popping $104M Debut

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The studio claimed the fourth slot too with its other female-skewing comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall which fell a moderate 44% to an estimated $6.1M lifting the cume to $44.8M making it the top-grossing picture of the year for Universal. The studio has struggled in 2008 and ranks dead last in marketshare among the big six studios, but hopes to turn things around this summer with big-budget action entries like The Incredible Hulk, Angelina's Jolie's Wanted, and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.

Audiences have been very kind to female-skewing comedies in recent weeks with Made, Baby, and Sarah all connecting with moviegoers and opening to $15-18M each. The marketplace has expanded to accommodate all three and an additional test will come next weekend when yet another player, Fox's What Happens in Vegas starring Ashton Kutcher and Cameron Diaz, debuts nationwide. It boasts the most starpower of the foursome, but also looks the least funny.

New Line's guy comedy Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay fell sharply in its second weekend and ranked fifth with an estimated $6M. Down 60%, the $12M sequel has grossed $25.3M in ten days and should reach the neighborhood of $35M by the end of its run. That would double the $18.2M that Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle smoked up in 2004.

Jackie Chan and Jet Li got pummeled by the man of iron as their martial arts adventure film The Forbidden Kingdom tumbled 63% to an estimated $4.2M boosting the cume to a solid $45.1M for Lionsgate and The Weinstein Co. Fox's kidpic Nim's Island dropped a moderate 40% to an estimated $2.8M and lifted its total to $42.5M.

A trio of Sony releases followed. The teen thriller Prom Night dipped by 45% to an estimated $2.5M giving the studio $41.4M to date. The popular blackjack drama 21 took in an estimated $2.1M, off 48%, and increased its winnings to a stellar $79.1M. It is the eighth film released this year to break the $75M mark which is the same amount at this point last year. Rounding out the top ten was the Al Pacino misfire 88 Minutes which dropped 56% to an estimated $1.6M giving Sony a miserable $15.4M thus far.

Two new releases enjoyed solid debuts in limited release. David Mamet's martial arts drama Redbelt bowed to an estimated $69,000 from six locations for a $11,441 average. The R-rated film stars Chiwetel Ejiofor and Tim Allen. Paramount Vantage generated an average almost as good with its British comedy Son of Rambow which debuted in five houses with an estimated $53,000 for $10,510 per site. The film festival darling will expand to 30 theaters in a dozen additional markets this Friday.

Fox saw two films on the opposite ends of the box office spectrum drop out of the top ten this weekend. The Dr. Seuss toon Horton Hears a Who grossed an estimated $1.4M, down 46%, for a robust cume to date of $149.8M. Still the top-grossing film of the year for a few more days, the G-rated comedy reuniting the dream team of Jim Carrey and Steve Carell should finish its run with $152-154M. Later this week, Horton will become Carrey's fifth film to break the $150M domestic mark.

The studio's crime thriller Deception has been completely ignored by moviegoers and crumbled 63% in its second weekend to an estimated $865,000 and embarrassing $432 average. With only $4M taken in thus far, a puny $5-6M final seems likely.

The top ten films grossed an estimated $151.9M which was down 15% from last year when Spider-Man 3 opened to a record $151.1M; but up 62% from 2006 when Mission: Impossible III debuted at number one with $47.7M.

Author: Gitesh Pandya, Box Office Guru

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(1-20 of 72 posts) | Reply

jokerboy1991 writes:
on May 04 2008 05:59 PM

Cool, I loved IRON MAN! I hope this means we will be getting that sequal in 2010!

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John Z. Delorean writes:
on May 04 2008 06:06 PM

I'm gonna go see it a third time next weekend. Let's keep Ironman going for just the simple fact that he crushed that retread Made of Honor. Speed Racer will definitely get it's money but let's make sure Ashton and Cameron don't sneak in with that Vegas movie at number 2 next week.

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martinscorsese25 writes:
on May 04 2008 06:07 PM

iron man rocked my world!! robert downey jr. takes over the movie just like daniel day-lewis has taken over "There will Be Blood". and oh, gweneth paltrow is still freakin hot.... though there was no kiss in the movie with her, i'd rather watch a bed scene with gweneth rather than the reporter...LOL

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martinscorsese25 writes:
on May 04 2008 06:08 PM

and where is the third trailer of The Dark Knight??!!!!

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Bloody Mathias writes:
on May 04 2008 06:16 PM

Martinscorsese, look for RT to report that first thing Monday.

Oh and by the way, awesome for Iron Man.

Iron Man might join Indy and TDK in the $300 million club.

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krauser12 writes:
on May 04 2008 06:26 PM

the new dark knight trailer has been up since well..today, watch for the quick frame on aaron eckhart!

http://www.whysoserious.com/happytrails/trailer.htm

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Slayer Of Light writes:
on May 04 2008 06:43 PM

Wow, that new TDK trailer looks F%$king amazing! Now I'm really glad that Heath Ledger was chosen to play the part, he looks really psychotic and twisted in this, like the Joker should be. And I'm glad Iron Man did well. Robert Downey Jr. is a fantastic actor and now that the weekend movie rush is over, I can finally go see it :P

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berzo12 writes:
on May 04 2008 07:09 PM

the quick frame of Aaron Eckhart made me nerdgasm(if u pause it and stare u will understand why) about as hard as the end of the credits of Iron Man(yes I said nerdgasm). Im glad the ol' shellhead pulled big numbers and a truly great RT rating. I expect Indy and TDk to pull bigger numbers but still amazing non-the-less for a "B-list" comic book character. And I will give big props to Faverau for pulling this off as well as he did (Zathura anyone?).

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terrible1 writes:
on May 04 2008 07:43 PM

sweet...iron man rocked and the new batman trailer and indy trailer were worthing seeing alone. faverau did a great job! watch the movie past the credits too for those who havnt alread heard.

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TheCaptain of TeamLoyalty writes:
on May 04 2008 07:48 PM

Iron man is not a b list character, hell he has almost always been the leader of the avengers, he is the man responsible for the death of Captain America, he is the head of shield, he was the secretary of defense, he is an A character, hell he is more important than the Hulk OR Spiderman.

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IMAmoose24 writes:
on May 04 2008 07:53 PM

Of course they don't show the new 'The Dark Knight' trailer if front of MY showing. Typical. Nevertheless, Cannot wait for that movie. And the footage after the credits of IRON MAN is worth the wait. It's completely badass.

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Masticatinsk8r13 writes:
on May 04 2008 08:05 PM

yea it is...gotta love SLJ (he can be ANYBODY!) but do you think that IRON MAN has the longest credits in history?? It had to be at least 8 minutes long!

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Xx MooSE xX writes:
on May 04 2008 08:22 PM

In reply to this comment (#1719290)
msn.com dude is where i got it

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rt_hire_me writes:
on May 04 2008 08:38 PM

Funny movie. Downey is without peer. Even lines that could have been excruciatingly cheesy he managed to pull off. Pokes fun of the usual superhero conventions without becoming a farce. One complaint - SPOILER ALERT - why does Iron Man get away when his much larger foe gets blasted by the arc ball discharge in the final battle? He rolled out of the way? That one should have been worked out like so many of the other excellent details in the movie.

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thereign writes:
on May 04 2008 08:44 PM

I'm sorry to see Forbidden Kingdom not doing as well as it should, since that was a really fun movie. Iron Man was far more enjoyable than I expected, and I've seen it twice so far. Robert Downey Jr. owned the entire film, and I certainly hope this solid return for his career means the troubles of his past are finally behind him.

However, when The Dark Knight comes out, it will kick the A$$ of any movie near it! Can't wait for that one!!

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martinscorsese25 writes:
on May 04 2008 08:55 PM

i heard a few days ago that indy 4 is 3 hours long??!!!! then when i checked the running time on yahoo movies it is just 2 hours... WTF!! i'm dying to see a GREAT spielberg film(though he didnt make a bad movie for me, he's previous films were good, and beyond average, but not great) i think the last one that i really liked was Catch me If you can..... i think indy 4 will broke his record of JUST a good film, and comes back to his GREAT film record

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gamecrazy2006 writes:
on May 04 2008 09:14 PM

I agree with 'thereign' in that The Dark Knight will outperform all of the movies this year at the box office (the only film that it will contend with is Indy 4). Congrats to Iron Man's success, but, c'mon, The Dark Knight will dominate it come July. The third trailer just premiered today and it's already taking away the limelight from Iron Man.

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rockclmbr6 writes:
on May 04 2008 09:15 PM

Iron Man deserves everything it's getting; the movie was a blast. I saw it twice on Saturday (two different groups of friends wanted to see it at different times), and I'll probably be seeing it again because all of this press has caught the attention of my dad.

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Young Turk writes:
on May 04 2008 10:22 PM

Iron Man was amazing, exceeded my expectations (only Batman Begins did before that). I really hope they go with at least 2 more sequels, I have got to see War Machine.

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Young Turk writes:
on May 04 2008 10:27 PM

By the way Krauser12 thanks for posting the new TDK trailer, that was effing great.

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