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Tony Stark dressed in his new armor is ready to do battle in IRON MAN(2008).
© Paramount Pictures

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IRON Launches To Top With 104.2 Mil Debut

And with that, the summer box office season has launched for Hollywood studios. Last summer, the season began with Spider-Man 3 on the first weekend of May, a film which entered 4,252 theaters and wound up with 151.1 million domestic.

This summer, it begins with Iron Man, a film which may have gained less than the film above but clearly is on its path to profit. Paramount and director Jon Favreau launched the first live-action adaptation of the Marvel superhero into 4,105 theaters this weekend and it grabbed 104.2 mil from Thursday night previews to Sunday. This has it’s average rate at $24,543 per showing.

With the budget at 140 mil, you can see why this is a good beginning for the film even if it’s not as impressive as other comic films of the past. The Robert Downey Jr. film also managed a 96.7 mil haul in oversea territories, again not as impressive as Spidey 3 but still fine for an origin tale (the first film of a franchise, compared to the third film of an established one). Overall, it has a 201.0 mil payday in its first three days at the box office. Out of all the other Marvel films to date, it is ranked 11^th overall all time in just its first three days so it will likely be climbing that ladder over the next few weeks.

Following in second place is the romantic comedy from Sony Pictures, Made of Honor. The Patrick Dempsey film debuted in 2,729 theaters this weekend and managed 15.5 mil at the box office, which is an average rate of $5,679. It still has a few weekends to go since its budget is set at 40 mil, but Sony should be pleased in taking the second spot with its alternative choice-minded film.

Landing in third place is last week’s champion, Tina Fey’s Baby Mama, a film which hit its budget mark over the three day weekend. The Universal film tallied up another 10.3 mil in receipts in its 2,548 theaters across the nation, which has its average rate at $4,054 per showing. So far, the film has a domestic gross of 32.3 mil and a budget listed at 30 mil in ten days of release.

The rest of the films all fell to 6 mil or lower.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall, another hit for Universal and the Apatow-Segel camp, stayed still in fourth place for the second consecutive weekend in a row. The film managed another 6.1 mil in its 2,872 theaters, which points to an average rate of $2,135 per showing. As I said, it’s still a hit with the film grabbing 44.8 mil while the producers kept the budget low at 30 mil.

In the same context, New Line may not be making as much money as it thought with Harold and Kumar traveling to Guantanamo Bay but since they kept the budget very low, they’re finding themselves in the profit margins. The film scraped another 6.0 mil this weekend, landing in fifth place in the report and averaging $2,363 per showing. In two weeks of release, it has a domestic gross of 25.2 mil and a budget of only 12.

Lionsgate follows into 6^th place with its Forbidden Kingdom adventure grabbing another 4.2 mil at the box office. Hard to say what the success rate of this film since it has no budget listed and some big names but it’s likely they kept the budget low in China. In three weeks of release, the film has managed 45.1 mil domestically and another 24.0 mil in foreign sales. Overall, its worldwide gross is at 69.1 mil.

Fox managed to finally cross their budget line this week for its children fantasy Nim’s Island. In its fifth week of release, the film landed in 7^th place with a 2.7 mil haul at the box office. The fantasy is still showing in 2,478 prints. Overall, it has a domestic gross of 42.5 mil while its budget is listed at 37.

Sony Screen Gems follows with its PG-13 rated Prom Night remake landing in 8^th place, though they have nothing to complain about. Their teen-centered remake has doubled its budget line in April. This week, it may have only managed 2.5 mil but it has a budget of only 20 and a domestic gross of 41.4 mil.

Sony owns the last two slots in this first May box office report as well. It’s crime thriller 21, another hit, follows in 9^th place with a 2.1 mil. This has it sitting at the 79.0 domestic mark with a budget of only 35. Meanwhile, it’s other thriller 88 Minutes can’t count themselves so lucky. It only has 1.6 mil for this weekend and domestically, it has only 15.4 mil.

So, what’s going to happen next weekend? Will Speed Racer perform up to speed, so to speak, or will it come in below the WB mark of expectation. I haven’t checked with theater sources today but it seems strange from some sites records that Speed Racer is 2 hrs and 15 minutes long. The marketing campaign behind the anime adaptation has been centered towards kids mainly and that seems a long running time to keep kids butts in their seats.

Still, WB is launching it in 3,600 theaters against yet another alternative minded choice for adult audiences, What Happens in Vegas. Fox is launching that one in 3,200 theaters so expect it take a bite out of Speed.

Friday May 9, 2008 Releases:

Speed Racer (3,600 theaters)

What Happens in Vegas (3,200 theaters)