By Sarah Sluis
Iron Man 2 racked up an astounding $133 million over the weekend, a dramatic improvement over Iron Man's
$98 million debut in 2008. The superhero movie had its strongest
performance on Friday, and fell
weekend. Overseas, Iron Man 2 is already in its second week and going strong. Stateside, it will have to compete with the action-driven Robin Hood releasing
this Friday. Last year, X-Men Origins: Wolverine dropped 70% in its
second weekend, when Star Trek bowed. Even a 70% drop will still give Iron Man 2 a $40 million second weekend, but given its stronger reception than Wolverine, it will likely post a much higher second weekend.
Babies debuted at number ten with $1.5 million. The documentary followed four babies around the world from birth to first steps. Reviews were starkly separated between baby-haters and those that just
over the cute creatures. While the per-screen average could be higher
(just $2,900 per screen at 534 locations), the movie has a chance at
performing well in coming weeks if it attracts positive word-of-mouth.
Besides Babies, Mother and Child also opened this weekend to take advantage of the Sunday Mother's Day holiday. At four locations, the movie earned $11,000 per theatre, the strongest per-theatre average for a specialty film this week. Please Give, in its second week, posted $9,000 per location as it quintupled the amount of theatres in its release (5 to 26).
A Nightmare on Elm Street tumbled 72% in its second week to $9.1 million, a fall expected for the horror movie. Iron Man 2 drove competing action movies downward: Clash of the Titans fell 60%, The Losers went down 69%, and Kick-Ass dropped 66%.
Family movies and comedies emerged unscathed. How to Train Your Dragon crossed the $200 million mark with a $6.7 million weekend, a 36% drop. Date Night dropped 30% to $5.3 million and The Back-up Plan fell 40% to $4.3 million. Even Furry Vengeance dropped just 40% after a disappointing first weekend, adding $4 million to its gross for an $11 million cumulative gross.
This Friday, Gladiator duo of director Ridley Scott and star Russell Crowe re-team for Robin Hood. The Queen Latifah romantic comedy Just Wright and Italy-set romance Letters to Juliet will go up against the male-driven fare.
It is very good movie. Iron Man 2 is everything that Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen had wanted to be. Where Michael Bay's film was an overblown mess of massively unrealized potential .Iron Man 2 is a fairly expertly crafted two hours of fun.
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