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IRON MAN WON'T BE A SPIDER-MAN, ANALYSTS PREDICT
Friday, May 2 2008
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The head of the leading company tracking box-office performance has expressed doubt that this year's blockbusters will reach the heights of those a year ago. Paul Dergarabedian, president of Media by Numbers, is predicting that ticket sales are likely to drop around 5.6 percent from last summer, when studios raked $4.18 billion, largely on revenue from sequels of previous hits, like Spider-Man, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Shrek. "To get to that level is going to be tough," Dergarabedian told Bloomberg News. Some hint of what lies in store will come following this weekend, when results for Paramount's Iron Man are tallied. Although many box-office forecasters are predicting that the movie will take in a huge $70-80 million, that will only be around half of what Spider-Man 3 wound up with last year when it debuted with $151 million. Today's (Friday) Los Angeles Times suggested that after receiving glowing reviews, which typically are read by older moviegoers, Iron Man could surprise analysts. "The giddiest box-office analysts predict an opening of $100 million for Iron Man," the Times observed. The newspaper described as "harebrained" widespread theorizing that the release of the videogame "Grand Theft Auto IV" will result in movie audiences staying home to play it. "There's no evidence that those consumers are incapable of doing more than one thing in a single weekend," the Times commented.
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