Marvel turns `Iron Man' into gold with a $200M debut

The Marvel Comics adaptation, starring Robert Downey Jr. as the guy in the metal suit, hauled in $100.7 million during its opening weekend and $104.2 million since debuting Thursday night, the second-best premiere ever for a nonsequel, according to studio estimates Sunday.

The film also scored overseas with $96.7 million in 57 countries where it began opening Wednesday, putting its worldwide total at $201 million.

The movie, distributed by Paramount, is the first release by Marvel Studios, which has begun financing its own productions after such studio-backed hits as the "Spider-Man," "X-Men" and "Fantastic Four" flicks. Via the Chicago tribune.

After only 3 days it beat out Hellboy and Daredevil (not hard to do), but we all know it will climb up to at least where the X-men boxoffice totals were after 3 months. Personally I thought it was on par with my two favorite superhero movies (X-men 2 & Spiderman 2), here's the Superheroes Genre breakdown:

Rank	Title (click to view)	Studio	Lifetime Gross / Theaters		Opening / Theaters		Date
1	Spider-Man	Sony	$403,706,375	3,876	$114,844,116	3,615	5/3/02
2	Spider-Man 2	Sony	$373,585,825	4,166	$88,156,227	4,152	6/30/04
3	Spider-Man 3	Sony	$336,530,303	4,324	$151,116,516	4,252	5/4/07
4	The Incredibles	BV	$261,441,092	3,933	$70,467,623	3,933	11/5/04
5	Batman	WB	$251,188,924	2,201	$40,489,746	2,194	6/23/89
6	X-Men: The Last Stand	Fox	$234,362,462	3,714	$102,750,665	3,690	5/26/06
7	X2: X-Men United	Fox	$214,949,694	3,749	$85,558,731	3,741	5/2/03
8	Batman Begins	WB	$205,343,774	3,858	$48,745,440	3,858	6/15/05
9	Superman Returns	WB	$200,081,192	4,065	$52,535,096	4,065	6/28/06
10	Batman Forever	WB	$184,031,112	2,893	$52,784,433	2,842	6/16/95
11	Batman Returns	WB	$162,831,698	2,644	$45,687,711	2,644	6/19/92
12	X-Men	Fox	$157,299,717	3,112	$54,471,475	3,025	7/14/00
13	Fantastic Four	Fox	$154,696,080	3,619	$56,061,504	3,602	7/8/05
14	Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles	NL	$135,265,915	2,377	$25,398,367	2,006	3/30/90
15	Superman	WB	$134,218,018	817	$7,465,343	508	12/15/78
16	Hulk	Uni.	$132,177,234	3,674	$62,128,420	3,660	6/20/03
17	Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer	Fox	$131,921,738	3,963	$58,051,684	3,959	6/15/07
18	Ghost Rider	Sony	$115,802,596	3,620	$45,388,836	3,619	2/16/07
19	Superman II	WB	$108,185,706	1,878	$14,100,523	1,397	6/19/81
20	Batman and Robin	WB	$107,325,195	2,942	$42,872,605	2,934	6/20/97
21	Iron Man	Par.	$104,250,000	4,105	$100,750,000	4,105	5/2/08
22	Daredevil	Fox	$102,543,518	3,474	$40,310,419	3,471	2/14/03
23	Unbreakable	BV	$95,011,339	2,708	$30,330,771	2,708	11/22/00
24	The Mask of Zorro	Sony	$94,095,523	2,515	$22,525,855	2,515	7/17/98
25	Blade II	NL	$82,348,319	2,707	$32,528,016	2,707	3/22/02
26	Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II	NL	$78,656,813	2,868	$20,030,473	2,868	3/22/91
27	Blade	NL	$70,087,718	2,389	$17,073,856	2,322	8/21/98
28	Sky High	BV	$63,946,815	2,912	$14,631,784	2,905	7/29/05
29	Superman III	WB	$59,950,623	1,763	$13,352,357	1,759	6/17/83
30	Hellboy	SonR	$59,623,958	3,043	$23,172,440	3,028	4/2/04