Weekend Box Office: 'Iron Man 2' fends off 'Robin Hood' to remain #1

For the second week in a row, "Iron Man 2" was the number one movie in America. PHOTO: Paramount Pictures

Robin Hood was no match for Tony Stark at the box office this weekend as the superhero sequel “Iron Man 2” easily held on to the top spot for the second weekend in a row. With Robert Downey Jr. staying on top, Russell Crowe and pals had to settle for a good, but not strong, second place finish for the weekend. This result wasn’t exactly shocking since the tin man had debuted with a year-best $128 million opening last week and was expected to hold on to at least half of its audience. Also opening this weekend to numbers in line with early predictions were the romances “Letters to Juliet” and “Just Wright.” Overall, the box office was a tad better than the cumulative total of the top ten performers from this very frame last year.

Russell Crowe prepares for his close-up in Ridley Scott's epic
"Robin Hood." PHOTO: Universal Pictures

Despite falling a hefty 59% from its powerful opening weekend, no newcomers were good enough to rob “Iron Man 2” (Movie Review) off its box office crown. The Marvel/Paramount release took in a strong $53 million for the weekend which raises its overall box office to a sizzling $212 million. In comparison, after ten days, its predecessor, “Iron Man,” had grossed $177 million – almost $35 million below “Iron Man 2.” Although to be fair, the original had debuted much lower ($98 million) and had also dropped only 48% in its second weekend on its way to $318.4 million. At its current trajectory, box office prognosticators are expecting “Iron Man 2” to end up somewhere in the $350-$375 million range – making it a strong contender for the title of 2010’s Highest Grossing Film. However, since many had originally expected the superhero picture to end up with a final gross in the $400 - $450 million range, both “Toy Story 3” and “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse” now have the potential to overtake “Iron Man 2” when they debut next month.

Director Ridley Scott’s very dull reinvention of “Robin Hood” (Movie Review) starring the very serious Russell Crowe was the weekend’s best newcomer, debuting to the tune of a good, not great $37.1 million in second place. While the picture didn’t open on top of the box office in the United States, it did perform considerably well abroad. Considering that the film cost an estimated $220 million to produce, the execs at Universal Studios are hoping the cash registers abroad keep flowing as it’s unlikely to do the same in the States after word-of-mouth kicks in. Reviews for the historical drama have ranged from negative to mixed at best and worse, word-of-mouth has been venomous; According to box office website BoxOfficeMojo.com, “Robin Hood” earned a poor B- average from audiences polled on Friday night, indicating that it’s going to be a tough road ahead for lads of Sherwood Forest. Its performance next weekend will decide whether or not it will be able to cross past the $100 million mark.

Amanda Seyfried just realizes that "Letters to Juliet" is her second
"letters" themed movie of 2010, after "Dear John."
PHOTO: Summit Entertainment

Debuting in a distant third place with $13.75 million was the romantic drama “Letters to Juliet” (Movie Review) starring Amanda Seyfried which Summit Entertainment positioned as good counterprogramming to the macho men battle between Robin Hood and Iron Man. As expected, Cinemascore surveyed that about 81% of the film’s audience was female. While reviews were generally mixed, word-of-mouth for the picture has been very good – Both Yahoo Movies and Cinemascore users gave it an A- average which indicates that the film will likely have a good two-week run until the arrival of the “Sex and the City” girls on May 27.

The weekend’s third newcomer, the romantic comedy “Just Wright” starring Queen Latifah and Common, was the weakest link of the newbies as it only managed to gross $8.5 million for the weekend. But since it played in significantly fewer theaters than the other two new releases, maybe comparing its performance isn’t being fair. However, with “Letters to Juliet” receiving strong word-of-mouth and the aforementioned “Sex and the City 2” arriving in a fortnight, expect this one to be written-off as an also-ran. It should make back its budget on DVD though so look out for it there.

"How to Train Your Dragon" spent its eighth consecutive
weekend in the top five. PHOTO: Dreamworks Animation

Rounding off the top five was spring season audience favorite “How to Train Your Dragon” which has now spent an amazing eight weekends in the top five. The critically acclaimed Dreamworks animated film added another $5.1 million to its booty to take its total to $207 million. With the studio’s flagship franchise closer “Shrek Forever After” debuting next week, expect “Dragon” to complete its ultra-successful box office run in the next two weeks with a final tally of over $215 million domestically. Not bad for a movie that was originally written-off as a disappointment when it opened below most expectations.

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Not much to report on the bottom five of the top ten as it was populated by holdovers from the month of April. Leading the way in sixth and dropping 48% from last weekend was the horror remake “A Nightmare on Elm Street” (Movie Review) with $4.7 million. The Freddy Krueger show has slashed $56 million to date so a sequel isn’t out of the question. Whether audiences are in the mood for another “Nightmare” is a question for another day.

A pair of romances took in seventh and eight. “Date Night” (Movie Review) starring Steve Carrell and Tina Fey laughed off with another $4 million for the weekend while Jennifer Lopez’s “The Back-Up Plan” (Movie Review) pulled in $2.4 million. Their cums stand at $86 million and $34 million respectively.

Rounding out the top ten were the Brendan Fraser bomb “Furry Vengeance” with $2.3 million and the 3-D action picture “Clash of the Titans” (Movie Review) with $1.2 million.

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NEXT WEEK: The most successful animated franchise in cinema history comes to a close with “Shrek Forever After.” Like its predecessors, this one too should have no problem becoming a huge hit, especially since 3-D prices are going to be tacked on this time. Also opening will be the SNL raunchy comedy “MacGruber” a spoof of the 80s television show “MacGyver” starring Will Forte and Val Kilmer. Although the trailers look funny, I’m afraid that its box office potential will be limited to hardcore SNL fans only. As usual, I shall be posting my reviews of "Shrek Forever After" and "MacGruber" on Thursday and Friday respectively. Keep a lookout for those.

To read more about “Iron Man 2,” “Robin Hood” and the rest of this summer’s biggest releases, make sure to check out my detailed, month-by-month Summer Movie Preview article by clicking on the image below.