Iron Man did it
again…. After smashing the last weekend’s box office with earnings of
$100,750,000 in the US
alone, the movie also crashed this weekend competition, leaving Larry and Andy
Wachowski’s debut movie “Speed Racer” in the dust.
Produced by Marvel Entertainment and distributed by
Paramount Pictures, the $135 million-budget movie, continued to hammer out box
office gold in its second week from release with earnings of 50,500,000.
Enjoying many favorable reviews, the movie boosted the
career of Robert Downey Jr., who plays the role of Tony Stark, a billionaire
weapons manufacturer who turns himself into a superhero, after being kidnapped
by terrorists in Afghanistan.
With Jon Favreau as director and co-starring Gwyneth
Paltrow, Jeff Bridges and Terrence Howard, Iron Man kicked off the summer movie
season by comfortably ranking 10th among Hollywood’s biggest opening weekends
and garnering the second best ever premiere for a non-sequel (behind 2002’s
“Spider-Man,” with $114.8 mil).
Taking the world by storm after its release last Friday,
Iron Man by far kneeled Wachowski brothers’ debut movie “Speed Racer” that earned
only $20,210,000 at this weekend box office.
Based on the 1960s’ Japanese animation series “Mach GoGoGo,”
which were initially inspired by a comic book of the genre and starring Emile
Hirsch, John Goodman, Christina Ricci and Susan Sarandon,“Speed Racer” had its
debut on Friday. The movie tells the story of Speed, a young man with quite a
silly obsession: that of winning a cross-country rally, The Crucible, in the
memory of his beloved brother, Rex Racer. Well, the rally seemed to be easier
to win for Speed when compared with the “Speed Racer”’s chances of winning No.
1 at this weekend box office.
Just $210,000 was the difference between the second and the
third spot at this weekend’s box office. “What happens in Vegas,” starring
Cameron Diaz, Ashton Kutcher, Rob Corddry, Lake Bell
and Dennis Farina, earned $20,000,000 in its release weekend.
Written by Dana Fox and directed by Tom Vaughan, the 99-long
comedy shares the story of two people who discover they’ve gotten married
following a night of debauchery in Vegas, with one of them winning a jackpot
after playing the other’s quarter. The pair tries to undermine each other and
get their hands on the money, but they fall in love along the way.
Rounding up the top five are romantic comedy “Made of Honor”
at No.4 with $7,600,000 (falling two positions from last weekend) followed at
No. 5 by Tina Fey and Amy Poehler comedy “Baby Mama with $5,766,000.
Directed by Paul Weiland, and co-written by debutant Adam
Sztykiel and Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont, “Made of Honor” is a romantic
comedy that did not receive too many favorable reviews. It tells the story of
Tom (Patrick Dempsey) and Hannah (Michelle Monaghan), who are best friends
until Hannah gets engaged and Tom realizes he is madly in love with her. The
movie borrowed elements from several romantic movies and, despite its funny
moments, it was considered too predictable.
Tina Fey and Amy Poehler's comedy "Baby Mama"
about a woman and her surrogate mother easily delivered so far more than $40
million for Universal Pictures.
“Redbelt”, another movie that opened this weekend, made it
in to The Top 10 on the last position with $1,140,000 in earnings.
The plot has a martial arts background, without sketching
out a conventional fight film. “Redbelt” is not only about Mike Terry (Chiwetel
Ejiofor), but about the choices that one makes when obliged to attain balance
between his idealistic beliefs and the rough materialistic reality.
The other movies that made it into Top 10 were: “Forgetting
Sarah Marshal” on the sixth place, “Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay”
which gained the seventh place, “The Forbidden Kingdom” on eight and “Nim's Island” on the ninth place.
