Iron Man 3 $125 Million Opening Weekend? We Think It Will Do Better.
According to Deadline, Iron Man 3 has debuted on box office tracking with an estimated $125 [...]
According to Deadline, Iron Man 3 has debuted on box office tracking with an estimated $125 million opening weekend. No film has yet had a $100 million plus opening weekend in 2013. In fact, Oz the Great and Powerful is the only film to even have above a $50 million opening weekend. With such a slow start to the 2013 box office, does the Iron Man 3 prediction seem high? Actually, we think it seems low. Iron Man 3 is still several weeks away from release in the United States, and the marketing for the movie is only going to get stronger. We predict that Iron Man 3 will have an opening weekend in the $160 to $175 million range. While The Avengers $207 million opening weekend is probably going to be out of reach for any movie for awhile, Iron Man 3 has a real shot at getting in striking distance of the second highest grossing opening weekend of all time (Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows Part 2 at $169 million). Iron Man 3 has a lot of things going for it. Disney's marketing has been phenomenal, and Robert Downey Jr. has been actively promoting the movie. Even more important, Iron Man 3 has appeal across every demographic. Both men and women named it as the most anticipated movie of summer 2013 in a Fandango poll, and it's a movie parents can take the kids to. The fact that there hasn't been much of interest at the box office recently will play to Iron Man 3's advantage. People who haven't gone to see a movie in awhile will turn out in droves because there's finally something worth seeing. The fact that Iron Man 3 should prove popular in IMAX and 3D formats should really help to boost up tickets prices as well. The only thing that could potentially hurt Iron Man 3 at the U.S. box office at this point is if it receives negative reviews from its early foreign releases. However, for Disney to be taking the chance of releasing it early overseas, we have to figure that they have a pretty good indication from test screenings that there's little risk of negative reviews.
