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Weekend Box Office Report: May 2-4: Holy Iron Man, Batman!
Weekend Top 10
| # | Title | GROSS | % Chg. | Theaters | Weeks | AVG | Total | Distributor |
| 1 | Iron Man | $100.8M | NEW | 4,105 | 1 | 24,543 | $104.3M | Paramount |
| 2 | Made of Honor | $15.5M | NEW | 2,729 | 1 | 5,679 | $15.5M | Sony |
| 3 | Baby Mama | $10.3M | -40.6 | 2,548 | 2 | 4.054 | $32.3M | Universal |
| 4 | Forgetting Sarah Marshall | $6.1M | -44.4 | 2,872 | 3 | 2,135 | $44.8M | Universal |
| 5 | Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay | $6.0M | -59.7 | 2,545 | 2 | 2,363 | $25.3M | New Line |
| 6 | The Forbidden Kingdom | $4.2M | -62.5 | 2,960 | 3 | 1,418 | $45.1M | Lionsgate |
| 7 | Nim’s Island | $2.8M | -39.5 | 2,478 | 5 | 1,109 | $42.5M | Fox |
| 8 | Prom Night | $2.5M | -44.5 | 2,434 | 4 | 1,027 | $41.4M | Screen Gems |
| 9 | 21 | $2.1M | -47.7 | 2,242 | 6 | 936 | $79.1M | Sony |
| 10 | 88 Minutes | $1.6M | -55.5 | 1,765 | 3 | 906 | $15.4M | Sony |
I caught the Thursday advance screening of Iron Man last week and, having enjoyed it so much more than
I expected to, hoped that people would dismiss the mediocre trailers and come
out in droves to see Robert Downey Jr.’s return to form. Analysts were expecting returns
somewhere around $84 million. I
was not convinced. I was hopeful,
but certainly not convinced. Then
came the $35 million dollar opening day. In one day, we went from X-Men numbers to Spider-Man numbers. Suddenly, the $84 million
dollar projection seemed conservative. In fact, it was, as Iron Man ultimately hauled in just over $100 million dollars in domestic box
office. That says nothing of the
$98 million the film earned internationally. This puts Iron Man at number two for best opening weekend for a non-sequel, just behind
the first Spider-Man. It seems like Downey Jr.’s hopes to
star in at least 15 Iron Man films might
actually happen. Well, maybe not
15 but he’ll at least be around for one or two more. Iron Man has
kicked off the 2008 summer box office to an unexpected and enormous start and
the good word of mouth Iron Man is sure to earn means upcoming flicks like Speed Racer and Narnia have tougher competition than they expected to face.
Iron Man’s success
meant dismal results for the rest of the Top 10. Only Nim’s Island managed a drop below 40%. The week’s other top debut was Sony’s attempt to counter-program for the
ladies with the Patrick Dempsey starring, Made of Honor. I’m
sure Sony expected the bridesmaid position but I think they were probably still
hoping for larger returns than this mediocre debut. Maybe Downey Jr. is just as McDreamy as Dempsey these days.
Iron Man wasn’t the
only film to pull down a 5-digit per screen average. Three specialty releases saw impressive figures on limited
screens far below the Top 10. The
highest average of the three came in at the lowest position as it played on
just one lonely screen. This is
fitting given the title, Mister Lonely. The Harmony Korine (Gummo) directed film about a Michael Jackson impersonator
who sojourns with Marilyn Monroe at her Irish commune earned $19K in its first
three days. The new David Mamet
film, Redbelt, was next with a
per screen average of over $11K. The film goes wide next week on over 1000 screens. Following in third, was the Sundance
find, Son of Rambow, in which
two young boys try to make their own Rambo movie. The crowd pleaser earned a per screen of $10.5K.
NEXT WEEK: Two wide releases will try their hardest to
topple the Iron Man. The Wachowski brothers hope for a first
place finish with their colorful, live-action anime, Speed Racer and Cameron Diaz & Ashton Kutcher shoot for the
date crowd with What Happens in Vegas.
