Iron Man 3 Looks At $60+ Million Friday, Still Estimated $170-$180 Million Weekend

Iron Man 3

will make somewhere between $63 million and $71 million on its opening day, on pace for a $174 million opening, according to Deadline. While that sounds like it's been adjusted down from the $177 million we reported this morning, those numbers are deceiving; when Box Office Mojo projected the $177 million we reported this morning, Deadline was still projecting closer to $165 million. In the case of Marvel's The Avengers, last year's comparable release, every day the experts underestimated the film and initial projections for each day ended up being too low. For instance, the film was projected at around $65 million for Friday, which experts expected to make between $150 and $175 million--but when the final tally was in on Saturday and the movie had taken in more than $80 million, suddenly the big $200 million number was plausible. Whether the new projection model has taken The Avengers into account or whether Iron Man 3 could be another pleasant surprise will have to wait for Sunday to be really figured out.