I’m not big on reporting box office numbers here at Screen Rant, but I found this comparison pretty interesting: Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Crystal Skull barely beat Iron Man opening weekend for opening weekend.
I really thought that Indy would smoke the armored one as far as opening weekend box office - Indiana Jones has huge name recognition, anticipation over being a return to the series after 19 years, big name star Harrison Ford, current flavor of the month Shia Lebouf and an outstanding legacy behind it.
On the other hand Iron Man was a relatively unknown Marvel Comics character being played by Robert Downey Jr, not exactly known as a big box office draw.
So how do they compare?
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In it’s opening weekend (Friday through Sunday) Iron Man brought in $98.6MM. The current estimate for Indy 4 for its opening Friday - Sunday numbers is… $101 million.
Now the problem here is that it’s really hard to do a fair comparison because Indiana Jones opened on midnight Wednesday and many hard core fans of the series saw it between then and Friday morning. On its opening Thursday Indy did $25 million.
Another interesting number is that the average gross per theater over the opening weekend was very close for both these movies, with Iron Man averaging about $8,000 and Indy, $7900. That to me is again, surprising. I thought a lot more people would pack the theaters for Indiana Jones than would have Iron Man on its opening weekend. Ah - but are the per audience numbers really that close? According to Fantasy Moguls, while Indy opened at only 155 more theaters than Iron Man, it was shown on TWICE as many screens: 9,500!
Although I know that Indy will go on to make huge dollars (it’s already earned an estimated $297MM worldwide) I really thought it would open much stronger here in the states, and would just completely blow away Iron Man’s numbers. BTW, our armored avenger has so far earned close to $486 million worldwide so far!).
Finally, Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Crystal Skull, while earning a ton of opening weekend money, did not manage to break any existing box office records.
Interesting stuff…
Box office numbers courtesy of BoxOfficeMojo.com.
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16 Comments
Interesting stuff Vic. I, for one, will be interested to see how Indy does over the next couple of weeks (i.e. will there be a significant drop off?). I haven’t gotten the opportunity to check out Iron Man yet, but it still seems to be going strong into its third week.
Vic
Thanks Vic,
This is exactly what I commented on early today in another Thread,
Despite being a massive sequel, despite more theatres, More screens, it still earned less money per theatre.
Iron Man wins
What’s funny is, the local popular radio station here in the Greater Toronto Area, in ever one of its news reports later last week said, “While Iron man kicked off the summer season, its expected that Indiana Jones will crush it like a tin can”
Ya…thanks for coming out, haha. So far, my predictions for speedracer and Indy were spot on. For some reason, alot of people don’t compare trailers to what really gets the main demographic excited, and no one considers word of mouth.
Next week, Indy will do less than Iron man did in its second week.
Also, look at the ratings for Indy, no where is it generally higher-rated than Ironman
well i think its fair to say that Indy will do much better then Prince Caspian will next weekeend .
Saw Indy. Was extremely disappointed.I too, think word of mouth will significantly hurt Indy 4. It was just not very good. overall. in my opinion.
INK
I didn’t think Indy 4 was bad, but it could have been better; I put it on the same level as Temple of Doom (maybe a little lower).
I do think word spreading has an important part to play, and expectations.
I think people expect more from Indiana so often come away disappointed, while Iron Man has surprised with how good it has been. The response seems much more upbeat about Iron Man, so it has kept going.
Of course, Iron Man doesn’t have daft ideas from Lucas jabbed into it. Always helps.
But Iron Man did use Lucas’ ILM company. Let’s hope that’s as far as Lucas gets with any of the upcoming superhero movies.
LOOKS LIKE IRON MAN MAY HAVE PUSHED OL’SPIDEY OUT OF THE NUMBER 1 SPOT AS MARVELS MOVIE ICON!!!!WEIRD!?! NOW IF ONLY GHOST RIDER AND THE FANTASTIC FOUR HAD JUST BEEN LESS SILLY…THEY COULD HAVE BEEN MASSIVE TOO.
HULK IS GOING TO BE A SMASH TOO I BELIEVE!!!
That Indy/Stark photo is halarious btw.
Yeah Vic I’m bettin that Indy does have a massive drop next weekend.
Its going to be interesting to see how Hulk does. I don’t think it will be a blockbuster unless it has a real good story.
When the dust settles, I suspect Iron Man may come out number one this summer.
I just wanted to say in regards to the photo,
Tony Stark might knock indy off his feet with his repulsors but the hat would be UNTOUCHED!
Its going to be interesting to see how Hulk does. I don’t think it will be a blockbuster unless it has a real good story.
Posted by: 790 at May 27, 2008 4:42 PM
Yesterday, I watched more clips of Hulk from CBM.com and I have to say I am pumped about this movie. I had doubts because of the way the Hulk looked but these clips have purged those doubts.
i am staying away from the Hulk novelization and most new clips.
i just want to be surprised by this.
Braveheart - I think it’s way to early say IM has surpassed Spidey in the movies - but we’ll see how IM2 does, and Avengers will only further propel IM into the spotlight
It is cool to think that IM is as popular as it is, considering Spidey is basically Marvel’s Superman. For once a superhero movie has drawn more positive attention to a character than the comics did (don’t have stats to support that, just an impression).
I usually think of comic movies as milking a known franchise, like video games based on movies or comics. IM the movie is rocketing the character to the mainstream. Pretty cool - Marvel still amazes me with innovation, about time movie studios reallize how much potential comic movies have beyond their opening weekend
ALTHOUGH GHOST RIDER & THE FF MOVIES WERE A BIT SILLY,THERE STILL WATCHABLE AND FUN…BUT I REALLY LIKED DAREDEVIL AND WOULD WELCOME HIS RETURN SOON TO THE BIG SCREEN.THE PART OF THE MOVIE WHEN WE FIRST SEE DD GOING AFTER THE GANG BOSS IN THE SUBWAY IS TERRIFIC!
What's your opinion? Leave a comment!