Everyone knew that Iron Man 2 would handily win the box office this weekend, but estimates for the final take were all over the place. Now the dust is settling, and Iron Man 2 looks to have made around $133 Million, which places it as the fifth best opening ever. Brisk early ticket sales were causing some to predict that Iron Man 2 might challenge the all time record for an opening held by The Dark Knight ($158 Million), but it fell quite a bit short of that.
According to Entertainment Weekly, Iron Man 2 received an “A” Cinemascore from exiting audience members, and that will translate into great word of mouth and box office stamina. The film didn’t face any competition from new releases, save for some smaller indie releases. Iron Man 2 is also a bona fide international success, after two weeks in release, its international box office haul is around $194 Million.
Nightmare on Elm Street fell with a resounding thud, losing 72% of its opening weekend numbers. Seems everyone who intended to see it saw it the first week, which is fairly typical of horror movies. Nightmare made about $9 Million and has made $48 Million in its first two weeks. How to Train Your Dragon was in the number three spot, and just slid past $200 Million in total ticket sales in its seventh week in release.
Date Night continues to defy expectations. Now in its fifth week, the comedy only dropped 30%, and made about $5 Million. Its cumulative total now stands at $80 Million. The Back-Up Plan added another $4 Million to its bottom line, and captured fifth place.
Outside of the top ten, the Focus Features documentary Babies debuted in the number ten spot, but it only played on about 500 theaters. Its per/screen average was the best behind Iron Man this weekend.
Next week Robert Downey Jr. and company might face a little competition from Russell Crowe when Robin Hood arrives in theaters.
