Iron Man keeps on the gas, Speed Racer sputtering, Vegas a gamble

By Robin Rowe

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 5/10/08 – “When I chose the heel I didn’t know what I’d be forced to do,” says ‘Iron Man’ star Gweneth Paltrow. “It was all grates. And, heels and grates don’t go together. Running in high heels is really very difficult, as any girl can tell you.” Paltrow broke her knee while filming.

‘Iron Man’ shows it can run in high heels as it continues on its way to what Hollywood Today says will be $340 million in its combined domestic and international box office opening 10 days. As predicted here, and nowhere else, ‘Iron Man’ dominated the box office when it opened last week. It continues to do so in the second week of the massive day-and-date release by Paramount. The theater count is expanding slightly to 4,111 and Paramount is hitting the TV spots hard. Hammer down, expect a $63 million weekend for ‘Iron Man’.

“Speed Racer’ trailers unfortunately make the visual effects film look as campy as ‘Spy Kids 2’. Highly mixed reviews peg it 65% rotten at Rotten Tomatoes. However, as a franchise, ‘Speed Racer’ could be critic-proof. Warner Bros. is opening it aggressively in 3,606 theaters. That’s the same number of theaters (3,619) as Sony’s ‘Ghost Rider’ had in February 2007. Racer will be lucky to do the $45 million that Rider did.

Fox is opening ‘What Happens in Vegas’ in 3,215 theaters. At 63% rotten, Rotten Tomatoes discounts it nearly as much as Racer. But, critics aren’t the challenge here. The Cameron Diaz, Ashton Crusher, pairing faces trouble with heavy date movie competition this weekend from Sony ‘Made of Honor’, Universal ‘Baby Mama’, and Universal ‘Forgetting Sarah Marshall’.

As predicted, Lionsgate ‘The Forbidden Kingdom’ took a beating from ‘Iron Man’. Kingdom loses nearly half its theaters this weekend. Also fading away: Fox ‘Nim’s Island’, Sony ’21, Fox ‘Horton’, Screen Gems ‘Prom Night’ and Sony ’88 Minutes’.

Weekend Theater Counts

Iron Man (Paramount) 4,111 (+6)
Speed Racer (Warner Bros.) 3,606
What Happens in Vegas (Fox) 3,215
Made of Honor (Sony) 2,734 (+5)
Baby Mama (Universal) 2,627 (+79)
Forgetting Sarah Marshall (Universal) 2,379 (-493)
Harold and Kumar 2 (New Line) 2,264 (-281)
The Forbidden Kingdom (Lionsgate) 1,724 (-1236)
Nim’s Island (Fox) 1,601 (-877)
Prom Night (2008) (Screen Gems) 1,465 (-969)
Redbelt (Sony Classics) 1,301 (+1295)
21 (Sony / Columbia) / 978 (-1264)
Horton Hears a Who! (Fox) / 770 (-693)
88 Minutes (Sony / Columbia) 625 (-1140)
Leatherheads (Universal) 423 (-599)

Data source: Box Office Mojo