By Ryan Parsons | Image property of Paramount Pictures, Variety
Iron Man
Just when we thought each new release in May would dominate its opening bow, this wasn't the case in the bout between Iron Man and Speed Racer. Iron Man, which enjoyed a huge opening bow last week, flew on positive word of mouth to absolutely stomp Warner Bros' slow-starting Speed Racer.
Iron Man Takes Box Office for a Second Weekend
Though Warner Bros. had hoped for $30 million from Speed Racer, the film couldn't find the petal as it crept out the gate to earn a meager $20.2 million. As a double-kick to the face, Speed Racer damn near tied the modestly budgeted comedy What Happens in Vegas and saw an international box office that was even more disastrous than the domestic (~$13 million).
While Warner Bros is left to think out what happened -- they claim the awareness was low, and I must admit that I didn't see much in terms of online advertising -- Marvel has even more reason to celebrate. Iron Man dropped 49% from its opening bow to earn another $50.5 million at the box office. Paramount is owing the film's second-week success to strong word of mouth.
“It’s a real testament that this is definitely a notch above your normal action-adventure movie in terms of the quality of the filmmaking and acting,” said Par prexy of worldwide marketing and distribution Rob Moore.
At the rate the film's going, expect to see Iron Man skyrocket right past the $200 million mark by next weekend.
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