‘Iron Man’ set for a $112 million opening weekend, challenging ‘Spider-Man” $115 million.

By Robin Rowe

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 5/2/08 – “It’s an exciting challenge to direct ‘Iron Man’ because he’s the biggest character in the original pantheon of the Marvel universe who has never had a movie made about him,” says director Jon Favreau. As a comic book, ‘Iron Man’ has more than 600 published issues over more than 40 years.

Paramount is releasing ‘Iron Man’ wider than it did ‘Transformers’. ‘Iron Man’ has the most theaters of any non-sequel comic book movie opening ever. With more than 9,000 screens at 4,105 theaters it’s the biggest opening of the year.

The massive theater count puts Paramount in position for an “Iron Man’ opening weekend on the scale of ‘Spider-Man’, which did $115 million. The timing is also right for a run on ‘Spider-Man’, which released on May 3, 2005. However, it will be a surprise if ‘Iron Man’ can go as high as the Spider-Man sequel. ‘Spider-Man 3’ released on May 4, 2007 with $151 million opening box office against $337 million domestic box office at 4,252 theaters.

Non-Sequel Superhero Movies
Title OBO/DBO Theaters

1. Sony ‘Spider-Man’ $115/$404 3,615
2. Paramount ‘Transformers’ $71/$319 4,011
3. Fox ‘Fantastic Four’ $56/$155 3,602
4. Fox ‘X-Men’ $54/$157 3,025
5. Sony ‘Men in Black’ $51/$251 3,020
6. Warner ‘Bros Batman’ $40/$251 2,194
7. Fox ‘Daredevil’ $40/$103 3,471
8. Buena Vista ‘The Rocketeer’ $9/$47 1,616

In a counter-programming move against the ‘Iron Man’ black hole, Sony is opening “Made of Honor’ at 2,729 theaters. That will have to do battle with chick-flick ‘Baby Mama’ and date-friendly ‘Forgetting Sarah Marshall’. However, the strength of those two films might help ‘Made of Honor’. The female audience is getting used to seeing more films this summer.

Theater Counts May 2nd
1. Paramount ‘Iron Man’ 4,105
2. Lionsgate ‘The Forbidden Kingdom’ 2,960
3. Universal ‘Forgetting Sarah Marshall’ 2,869
4. Sony ‘Made of Honor’ 2,729
5. Universal ‘Baby Mama’ 2,548
6. New Line ‘Harold and Kumar’ 2,545
7. Fox ‘Nim’s Island’ 2,478
8. Screen Gems ‘Prom Night’ 2,434
9. Sony ‘21’ 2,242
10. Fox ‘Deception’ 2,001

‘Iron Man’ rated a mention in Sumner Redstone’s stock earnings call this morning, which for a company the size of Viacom means it’s looking very big to them. Expect ‘The Forbidden Kingdom’ to be mauled by ‘Iron Man’ this weekend.

Robin Rowe is the film editor at Hollywood Today.

(Data: Box Office Mojo)