Saturday, May 3, 2008

"Iron Man" gets heavy start at box office




By Steve Gorman



"Iron Man" stars Robert Downey Jr. as a billionaire
industrialist and playboy named Tony Stark who wrestles with a
midlife crisis as he invents a high-tech suit of armor that
transforms him into a superhero.

The movie, which cost about $150 million to make and
another $75 million to market, co-stars Oscar winner Gwyneth
Paltrow and has drawn mostly favorable reviews.

Distributed through Viacom Inc's Paramount Pictures, the
film is the first self-financed production from Marvel Studios
and is being closely watched as the first major release of the
summer movie season.

The 18-weekend stretch from May through August can account
for as much as 40 percent of Hollywood's total domestic box
office receipts for a year.

Neither Paramount nor Marvel issued first-day figures for
"Iron Man."

But two box office tracking services, Media By Numbers and
Box Office Mojo, both reported the film's estimated Friday take
at $32.5 million, not including receipts from Thursday night
"preview" screenings in more than 2,000 theaters.

Media By Numbers estimated preview grosses at about $6
million; Box Office Mojo put that number at $5.5 million.

"Iron Man's" opening Friday haul puts in on par with "X2:
X-Men United," which grossed $31.2 million its first Friday and
went on to amass $85.6 million in receipts through its first
Sunday, all in the same May weekend five years ago.

If Friday's estimates hold up, Media By Numbers president
Paul Dergarabedian said he expects "Iron Man" to best "X2" and
perhaps even meet or surpass the $88.2 million grossed by
"Spider-Man 2" in its first weekend in July 2004.

"It might be a little higher than 'X-2' because I think
this one's going to have better word of mouth than that movie,"
Dergarabedian said. "Whether it beats 'Spider-Man 2' remains to
be seen."

(Editing by Doina Chiacu)

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