Iron Man stands next to Spider-man

I don't think anyone expected Iron Man to do quite as well as Spider-man did when it first opened in 2002, but it came damn close. According to Reuters (and just about anywhere else with box office numbers), Iron Man opened with $104.25 million, the second highest May opening for a non-sequel. To put it in perspective, Spider-man holds the record with a $114.8 million opening (non-sequel movie in May), and Spider-man 3 holds the record for biggest opening weekend of all time in May 2007 with $151 million. Iron Man cost $150 million to make and $75 million to market (that's $225 million for the somewhat math inclined out there), so Marvel's not completely out of the woods yet. But the film is generating positive buzz, and I expect it to have a solid second weekend as well (despite Speed Racer hitting theaters this Friday), so Marvel should be extremely happy right now. I wouldn't be surprised if the drop off next weekend wasn't too severe and it pulls in an additional $50 million, but we'll see. Iron Man makes bank opening weekend