A scene from Iron Man 2
It was laser weapons vs. bows and arrows in the battle of movie macho men, and reigning champ Tony Stark's superior weaponry was too much for Robin Longstride. Ridley Scott's Robin Hood, starring Russell Crowe as the sainted outlaw of Sherwood Forest, finished a distant second to Iron Man 2 at the North American box office this weekend, according to early studio estimates. Somehow, the promise of Crowe and Cate Blanchett as Maid Marian slogging through 12th century muck did not entice ticket buyers as much as a second look at the second film with Robert Downey Jr. as the zillionaire with the gold-titanium alloy heart. Iron Man 2 fell 60% from its $128 million opening last weekend but still vanquished Robin Hood, $53 million to $37.1 million.
Worldwide, the medieval action film did fine. Cadging loads of free publicity as the opening-night selection of the Cannes Film Festival, Robin Hood earned $74 million on about 7,000 screens in 56 countries and territories — the biggest international opening take for a Scott-Crowe collaboration (including Gladiator and American Gangster). But the film will have to steal a lot more swag to break even; according to some reports, it cost a pricey $225 million to produce, plus another $100 million or so to bring it to market. The demographics of its U.S. audience are not encouraging: 56% of those who saw the movie were male, but 63% were over 30 — graybeards in movie-audience terms. And Robin's B-minus CinemaScore poll of exiting moviegoers indicates tough times ahead for the film and its producing studio Universal, already mired in a yearlong slump.
That $37.1 million opening — on the first weekend of the summer movie season without a Mother's Day to deflate the Sunday numbers — is not just well below Iron Man 2's sophomore frame but also far behind the weekend takes of early-2010 hits: Alice in Wonderland ($116.1 million, first weekend; $62.7 million, second weekend), Clash of the Titans ($61.2 million), Valentine's Day ($56.3 million), How to Train Your Dragon ($43.7 million) and Shutter Island ($41 million). It's also less than what Avatar racked up in five of its seven weeks at No. 1.
Letters to Juliet, the Amanda Seyfried weepie offered as counterprogramming for the femme set, opened on the low end of expectations at $13.8 million; it cost about $30 million to make. Juliet's audience was a lopsided 81% female, with 63% over 25. Its A-minus CinemaScore rating suggests that other women will find the movie in the next few weeks. Queen Latifah's NBA story Just Wright opened with a meager $8.5 million. This one won't make the playoffs.
And if this week's movies are already cowering, it's because they've heard the heavy footfalls of Shrek Forever After. The DreamWorks 3-D animated feature opens on May 21.
Here are the Sunday estimates of the weekend's top-grossing pictures in North American theaters, as reported by Box Office Mojo:
1. Iron Man 2, $53 million; $212.2 million, second week
2. Robin Hood, $37.1 million, first weekend
3. Letters to Juliet, $13.8 million, first weekend
4. Just Wright, $8.5 million, first weekend
5. A Nightmare on Elm Street, $4.7 million; $56.1 million, third week
6. How to Train Your Dragon, $5.1 million; $207.8 million, eighth week
7. Date Night, $4 million; $86.7 million, sixth week
8. The Back-Up Plan, $2.5 million; $34.2 million, fourth week
9. Furry Vengeance, $2.3 million; $15.1 million, second week
10. Clash of the Titans, $1.3 million; $160.2 million, seventh week