Box Office: “Iron Man” Ascends to $134 Million Opening

Box Office

“Iron Man” Ascends to $134 Million Opening

By our guest blogger, Tim Strain

Product-placement vehicle “Iron Man 2” had its way with the competition over the weekend, breaking records and unofficially kicking off the summer movie season. It scored $133.6 million in 4,380 theaters, the widest release in history. It flattened the rest of the box office, mainstream and art-house fare alike. It’s opening is the fifth biggest of all time and $17.5 million more than Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland,” making it 2010’s biggest. It’s $30,502 per theater average (PTA) is the ninth biggest of all time, and it trails only “Spider-Man 3’s” $151 million opening from this weekend three years ago for the biggest May opening ever.

The opening is a robust improvement over its predecessor’s $98.6 million take two years ago. That film was budgeted at $140 million, and Paramount Pictures and Marvel Studios had enough company in current golden boy Robert Downey Jr. to up this one’s budget to $200 million. It opened with the seventh biggest day of all time, a $55 million haul on Friday that included over $7 million from midnight showings (this is far off from “The Twilight Saga: New Moon’s” $26.3 million record. “IM2” then dropped 11 percent to $46.5 million on Saturday, and an estimated 25 percent for a $34 million take on Sunday.

It has a damn good chance at winning its second weekend, with the iffy-looking “Robin Hood” and counter-programming romances “Letters to Juliet” and “Just Wright” opening. The ludicrous amounts of tie-ins and “gotta admit they’re pretty cool” explosions should keep audiences riveted. It will almost certainly break it’s predecessor’s $318 million total, but with “Shrek Forever After” and “Macgruber” being unleashed on audiences on May 21, and “Sex and the City 2,” “Toy Story 3,” “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse” and “Inception” all due over the next few months, it will have a hard time topping 2009’s biggest summer hit, the unfortunate $402 million juggernaut “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.”

Like I said, there really isn’t much else to talk about for the weekend. “A Nightmare on Elm Street” dropped an embarassing 72 percent for a $9 million frame, landing in second place. “How to Train Your Dragon” continued its success despite losing hundreds of IMAX screens to the man in red and gold, earning $6.7 million in its seventh weekend to improve to $201 million. It is the 101st movie to cross the $200 million threshold.

“Date Night” had another small drop in its fifth weekend, easing 30 percent for $5.3 million to bump its total to $80 million. “The Back-Up Plan” and “Furry Vengeance” both eased 40 percent, each bringing in roughly $4 million apiece.

“Clash of the Titans” finally got the wind knocked out of it, dropping a hard 61 percent in its sixth weekend. Its $157 million total is solid, if not TITANIC. Had to.

In the indy circuit, audiences did not go goo-goo gah-gah for “Babies,” which earned a paltry $2,949 PTA in 534 theaters, giving it a $1.575 million opening, good for tenth place. I don’t know what the advertisers at Focus Features were thinking when their poster read “Everyone Loves Babies.” The well-reviewed ensemble “Mother and Child” (the other Samuel L. Jackson opener) started off with an excellent $44,400 in four theaters, giving it the highest PTA of the weekend. “Please Give” improved 114 percent over last weekend, as it successfully expanded from 5 to 26 theaters. It earned $253,000, good for a $9,731 PTA, bringing its total to $415,000 against a $3 million budget. “Multiple Sarcasms” saw B-listers Stockard Channing, Timothy Hutton, and Mira Sorvino slumming it, earning a pathetic $17,800 in 15 theaters, good for a PTA of $1,187.

Figures courtesy Box Office Mojo.