Good to see, the sequel should be in approved after this weekend.
'IRON MAN' FIRST SUMMER STRONGMAN: Friday's $30 Million Dollar Marvel + $30M Intl.
Nikki Finke’s Deadline Hollywood Daily ‘IRON MAN’ FIRST SUMMER STRONGMAN: …Thursday-Friday’s $38.5 Million Marvel; …$95 Mil 3 1/2-Day Weekend Gross; …$30 Mil From 47+ Foreign Territories
SATURDAY AM: This is why Hollywood keeps making movies from comic books. Now it's official: Marvel's Iron Man opened with $38.5 million at Thursday's and Friday's box office for what will be $95 million in total domestic gross for the full 3 1/2 day release (including Thursday night's $5 million haul from advance screenings in 2,500 theaters, plus Friday- Saturday-and-Sunday's monster take in 4,105 venues). The PG-13 blockbuster distributed by Paramount logged in No. 1 as the best 2008 film opening, but also shoul finish among the Top 2 or Top 3 summer movies of the year as it kicks off the all-important May through August popcorn season. The $140 million production self-financed by Marvel also broke the record for the second biggest non-sequel opening of all time behind only Spider-Man 1. (With its unconventional leading man Robert Downey Jr -- which may be one secret to the film's success -- and director (Elf) Jon Favreau, the pic is the second biggest Marvel comic book movie character behind only Sony's Spider-Man franchise.) "Especially when we've had a horrid March and April, this shows people are ready to go to the movies," an insider says. I understand the Cinemascore was an A, and an A-plus with younger groups ages 18 to 24, and under 25. The movie understandably skewed more male: Friday night turned out 60% male-40% female filmgoers, "which bodes well for female audiences finding the movie and loving it," an insider told me this morning. "A comic book movie could have gone even higher than that, into the 70s percentile male." According to Rotten Tomatoes, Iron Man is the best reviewed wide release so far this year -- 95% positive reviews -- and the best reviewed comic book movie in the website's (albeit brief) history.
