Hot Iron

Summer at the movies kicks off with Jon Favreau and Robert Downey Jr bringing Iron Man (reviews) to the big screen; While it's clear that the comic book flick we win the weekend--In a bit of counter programing Patrick Dempsey hopes that his fans of Grey's Anatomy will flock to see the romantic comedy Made Of Honor (reviews)...


Pamela McClintock 0f Variety:

Paramount and Marvel Studios' "Iron Man" is looking like an ironclad winner as summer gets under way at the worldwide box office.

The tentpole, toplining Robert Downey Jr. as Marvel comicbook superhero Tony Stark, got an early start on the weekend when opening in 4,105 theaters Thursday night at 8 p.m. On the foreign front, "Iron Man" will dominate as it moves into virtually every major territory.

Par has a good shot at scoring one of the best May openings for a non-sequel in a much-needed win for the domestic film biz, as well as the second-best opening for a non-sequel Marvel pic after "Spider-Man," which opened to $114.8 million on the same weekend in 2002. "Iron Man" shouldn't have trouble shooting past the opening for Universal and Marvel's "Hulk," which opened to $62 million in June 2003.

An ode to advanced weaponry and the birth of an unlikely superhero, "Iron Man" is tracking like gangbusters with men and boys, and has picked strength among older women in recent days. Younger women is the only demo that isn't tracking quite so well.

That's good news for Sony's broad romantic comedy "Made of Honor," which opens in 2,729 runs. Film stars Patrick Dempsey and Michelle Monaghan, and is showing strength among females.

"Made of Honor" has enough of a last-minute bump in tracking to give it a shot at opening bigger than "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" ($17.7 million) two weeks ago and "Baby Mama" ($17.4 million) last weekend remains to be seen.

Like "Baby Mama," "Made of Honor" has the advantage of a PG-13 rating, while "Sarah Marshall" is rated R...

Joshua Rich of Entertainment Weekly:

Boasting a comic-book pedigree, awesome reviews, and a cool star, the superhero movie will do gangbusters this weekend...but how big will it be?

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As the Best-Reviewed Wide Release Of The Year No other film has a chance at the top spot--until next week of course

Next week: Speed Racer enters the um...race; While Ashton Kutcher and Cameron Diaz hope to "Get Lucky" in What Happens in Vegas