Directed by: Jon Favreau
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Terrence Howard, Jeff Bridges
The plot: Inventor Tony Stark (Downey) dons his most powerful creation, a high-tech suit of armor, to fight the Mandarin, a dark-minded scientific genius bent on spreading his influence worldwide.
Harris: The hype and marketing is definitely there, but is the audience interest and the movie there as well? That remains to be seen, but Iron Man definitely has an advantageous release date. But sometimes you don’t know what will happen when these movies come out. Iron Man definitely looks like a fun summer ride, but if it turns out to be a lame-duck, cheesy, stupid movie like the Fantastic Four movies audiences will reject it after the first week. And May is still a competitive month. I’m predicting an opening weekend in the ballpark of $60-80 million for the movie, but it could be higher.
Lealos: The only thing that will hold back Iron Man is the lack of familiarity with the majority of the film going audience. He is no Spider Man or Hulk, but for comic fans, he is possibly the most important super hero in comics today. What will sell this movie are the trailers, and I think, for the most part, they have been tremendous. I am more pumped to see this movie than I was when I first heard it was being made. Robert Downey Jr. always brings the goods and I think he will be a fantastic Tony Stark. This might be the best balls-to-the-walls action movie of the summer and is one of my most anticipated movies of the year. I would not be surprised to see it hit close to its $80 to $90 million opening weekend projections, but it will probably be closer to $60 million. The next step is word of mouth. If good, expect to see Iron Man rocket past the $200 million mark domestically, which is important considering its rather large budget.

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