Editorials > "Iron Man" Has Tenth Best Opening Weekend Ever

"Iron Man," Marvel Studio's first film fully produced and financed under their new business plan, made a whopping $104.2 million domestically and $96.7 million internationally this weekend, earning it the honor of "tenth best opening weekend ever." Perhaps more impressive is that it's the second highest opening for a non-sequel, with the first being "Spider-man," six years ago this weekend (Variety).

On Thursday, I proposed a guessing match of sorts on how much this movie would make. Everyone underestimated just how profitable "Iron Man" would be, especially me (although cregs changed his bet Sunday morning). But Malakii guessed a remarkably accurate $103.7 million, a mere $500 thousand off the mark! Hats off to you, Malakii. You may just have a job waiting for you at Paramount as a well-paid, soulless, number-crunching executive. So start hunting for trophy wives!

"Made of Honor" (or as advertisers will call it "The number 1 comedy in America!") made second place this weekend with $15.5 million, again, slightly higher than my own prediction of $10-15 million. Maybe my estimates are falling short because I failed to factor in the notion that the movie business tends to thrive in times of financial turmoil. Maybe.

An additional honor for "Iron Man" has been brought to my attention by Rottentomatoes: "Iron Man" is the most highly-reviewed movie of the year, and so far the most highly-reviewed superhero movie of all time (by RT's own rating system that is). "Iron Man" has a 94% fresh rating at the moment, which places it just ahead of "Spider-man 2" and its well-deserved 93% fresh rating. Though most of those reviews mention how flawed "Iron Man" is, it ultimately has won the press over, and clearly audiences as well.

Everything else in the top ten at the box office was a holdover this weekend, and you can survey their almost unnoticeable revenues here. 

-David Morgan