Only a handful of movies have ever made $1 billion. Shockingly, Miley Cyrus is not in any of them (The Best Of Both Worlds Concert Tour .only made $70 million???). Well, the club just got one member fuller, as Iron Man 3 has passed the $1 billion mark worldwide. Shane Black directs the third film in the superhero series, with Robert Downey, Jr. making what may be his final Iron Man film. Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Ben Kingsley, Rebecca Hall, James Badge Dale, Stephanie Szostak, Jon Favreau, and Ty Simpkins also star. Iron Man 3 has only been in American theaters for two weeks, topping the box office the entire time. With the premiere of Star Trek Into Darkness, however, the Marvel film may just drop down the rankings. Read our Iron Man 3 review to see why we think it deserves all the success its seeing.
There is no good excuse for this. Hiring a fake gunman? SMH. Movie Theater Hires Fake Gunman According to Fox 4 A Missouri movie theater is in trouble with police for a promotion that could have had tragic consequences. During the opening of “Iron Man 3″, the Goodrich Capital 8 had an actor walk into a theater with full tactical gear, carrying a fake gun. Several moviegoers were scared, thinking it was a real shooter, and called 911. “Everything was in place, it’s the opening night of a superhero movie, it’s somebody walking in all-dark clothes, everything pointed to bad things about to happen,” Jefferson City Police Capt. Doug Shoemaker told the area’s FOX affiliate. “There’s really no good that can come of this.” Shoemaker added that with a recent mass shooting at a Aurora, Colo. movie theater, this stunt was ill-advised. The manager of the theater says this was planned months in advance, and only a few customers were upset. He added that the safety and security of his customers is his top priority. Shoemaker countered that if an off-duty police officer had been in the theater, the actor would likely have been confronted, and could have been killed. Friday afternoon, the theater posted the following statement on Facebook: “We apologize and are sympathetic to those who felt they were in harm’s way with our character promotion for Iron Man 3. This was not a publicity stunt. We have worked with the Cosplacon group on many movies to dress up and help entertain our customers. We have had many complaints about the members dressed specifically as S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives carrying fake guns. We didn’t clearly tell our customers and some people didn’t realize it was for entertainment purposes only. We apologize that police were called to come out to our theater. We have a wonderful working relationship with the Jefferson City Police Department. Going forward we will take the necessary steps to make sure this doesn’t happen again. Security and safety for our customers is our number one priority.” We just don’t understand with children shooting themselves and mass shootings, why this theater thought this would be a cool promotional event. Common sense is sorely lacking in our world. Shutterstock
You all probably thought The Iceman would win the box office this weekend, but nope…. Iron Man 3 did. In fact, it destroyed the weekend. In double fact, it made more in three days than all the movies in theaters have made in any single weekend so far this year. In triple fact, it scored the second highest opening weekend ever ! Iron Man 3 took in $175.3 million in its first three days. Read our Iron Man 3 review to find out why we love it so much, then check out the full Weekend Box Office Report after the jump. Box office top 10: 1. Iron Man 3 , $175.3 million 2. Pain and Gain , $7.6 million 3. 42 , $6.2 million 4. Oblivion , $5.8 million 5. The Croods , $4.2 million 6. The Big Wedding , $3.9 million 7. Mud , $2.2 million 8. Oz the Great and Powerful , $1.8 million 9. Scary Movie 5 , $1.4 million 10. The Place Beyond the Pines , $1.3 million
From Thailand, by way of the website Kotaku, comes this Sweded shot-for-shot remake of the Iron Man 3 trailer that , frankly would have made Michel Gondry’s Be Kind Rewind a better movie. My favorite scenes are the one in which the Tony Stark stand-in gets a toilet plunger for an oxygen mask in the operating room, the falling Air Force One flight attendants and the shots of Stark’s iron army assembling in the night sky. I laugh every time the blue Iron Man hovers then makes a beeline for the camera. Check it out below: Iron …Man, That’s A Parody! [ Kotaku ] More on Iron Man 3 : EARLY REACTION: ‘Iron Man 3′ − The Mandarin Is Marvel Studios’ Most Daring Super Villain Yet Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
Iron Man 3 screened in Times Square last night, and though it’s practically impossible to talk about the Mandarin without spoilers, I’ve got to say that he is the most daring creation of the Marvel Cinematic Universe so far. As Ben Kingsley , who portrays the villain, said again and again and again in the trailers, “You will never see me coming,” and that line resonates even more now that I’ve seen the movie. Director Shane Black, who also co-wrote the movie with Drew Pearce , created a character that took me completely (and happily) by surprise. And, after all that blogosphere grousing — myself included — about casting the half-British, half-Indian Kingsley in the role of a character that, based on the Marvel comics universe, is a China-born descendant of Ghengis Khan, the Oscar-winning actor turns out be a genius bit of casting. There’s only one other actor I could imagine doing justice to the part, but I’m going to hold off on sharing his name for now for fear that his body of work would be too much of a clue. Maybe I’ll drop it in the comments section after the picture opens. The Mandarin: A True 21st Century Villain I have a feeling Black and Pearce’s construct for the Mandarin is going to piss off a lot of comic-book purists (while, at the same time, making die-hard fans of The X Files smile), but I applaud them and Marvel Studios for taking the chance. The Mandarin turns out to be a villain for the media-saturated, perception-is-reality 21st Century, and that’s a lot more memorable (and unsettling) than some dude with magic rings. I wish I could write more about this, but that’s about as far as I can go without spoiling a key chunk of the movie. What did I think of Iron Man 3 overall? I liked it, but it didn’t blow me away. In part, I wish that Marvel, Pearce and Black had taken even more chances with the movie. In addition to the Mandarin storyline, Gwyneth Paltrow’s Pepper Potts character gets an interesting subplot , but the movie’s ending left me with the distinct impression that Marvel is so concerned about messing with the success of the Iron Man franchise that it waffled on really exploring the possibilities. Superhero Movie Saturation Point There’s another factor, too, that is largely personal. My enjoyment of digital effects laden superhero movies is approaching its saturation point. Despite being one of those scrawny, bespectacled geeks who came of age poring over The Amazing Spider-Man and Deathlok The Demolisher , I’ve reached a point in life where movies about human struggles are vastly more engrossing than superhuman ones. Downey and the Iron Man franchise remains my favorite of the genre because the actor brings so much humanity and wit to his character, and so, besides the surprising Mandarin reveal, I was grateful for the subplot involving Tony Stark’s mostly unsentimental relationship with a wisecracking Tennessee boy named Harley (Ty Simpkins) whose aid he enlists. My favorite line from the movie, which evoked a mixture of gasps and laughs from the audience, came when Harley reveals his fatherless existence to Stark. “Dads leave,” Downey replies. No need to be a pussy about it.” I’ll remember that line long after the action sequences have faded. The Problem With Trailers And they are already fading. Let’s just say that an army of Iron Men is cool to behold, but it does not necessarily make for better action sequences. But what does? The first effects-rendered action sequence that has turned my head in a long time is the scene from the most recent Pacific Rim trailer in which a Jaeger robot uses an oil tanker as a Louisville Slugger to bash in the skull of a Kaiju. Speaking of trailers, they diminish the impact of some of the best action sequences in Iron Man 3 (and other tentpole movies) because they reveal too much play for months before a movie’s release. By the way, I think most moviegoers will disagree with my assessment of Iron Man 3 based on the reactions of the crowd that saw the movie with me. The 3D glasses that were being passed out came in a number of collector’s variants, and entering the theater, I encountered a scrum of moviegoers jostling each other to get a particular version. During the movie, the crowd’s reaction was enthusiastic and, after watching the disappointing post-credits scene with Mark Ruffalo as the Hulk ‘s alter ego Bruce Banner, I heard a middle-aged woman excitedly telling someone on the other end of her cell phone, “I can’t wait to see it again.” If you’ve seen Iron Man 3 , let me know what you think in the comments section. More on Iron Man 3 : ‘Iron Man 3’: Is The Mandarin An Extremist Fringe Republican? Marvel Studios Says Iron Man 3 Villain The Mandarin Isn’t Chinese, He’s International Iron Woman? If Pepper Potts Has A Future In Armor, She Needs To Kick Villain Ass REVIEW: ‘Iron Man 3’ Proves Its Mettle Despite Symptoms Of Franchise Fatigue Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
Tony Stark has an unusual bout of sincerity in this new Iron Man 3 clip , which makes reference to the totally crazy events of The Avengers . Take a look: Iron Man 3 Clip Tony and Pepper The film that kicks off Marvel Phase 2 may just be the last Iron Man , as it’s seeming more and more likely that Downey, Jr. will retire from the Iron Man series . Gwyneth Paltrow returns as Pepper Potts, with Don Cheadle and Jon Favreau also returning to their roles. Guy Pearce, James Badge Dale, Rebecca Black, and Ben Kingsley also star. Iron Man 3 will premiere May 3.
In March, I wrote about how Robert Downey Jr. is about as close to indispensable as you can get to Marvel Studios ‘ lucrative superhero movie franchise — and now here’s proof from the man himself. In a very entertaining profile of the Iron Man 3 star in the May issue of GQ , Downey confirms to writer Chris Heath that his payday on The Avengers was in the $50-million ballpark. The exchange between the actor and the writer is a thing of beauty: $50-Million Iron Man “Whatever contract Downey signed when he agreed to appear in multiple movies as Iron Man allowed him a share of The Avengers’ payday far bigger than anyone could have anticipated. The Hollywood Reporter recently suggested that the true figure was around $50 million . It’s not the kind of thing most actors are prepared to talk about, but I ask Downey anyway. “Yeah,” he says, smiling. Is that number about right? “Yeah.” A broader smile. That’s amazing. “Isn’t that crazy?” he says. “They’re so pissed. I can’t believe it. I’m what’s known as ‘a strategic cost.’ ” Strategic cost! I bet that term was invented by the Nathan Thurm -like lawyer or public-relations consultant who came up with the term “collateral damage.” In other words, Downey is so valuable to Marvel that it’s better to swallow hard and open up the Disney coffers rather than attempt to hardball him into accepting to a less-than-mindblowing figure. In other words, Disney is not going to risk losing him. One of the Best Why does that make me smile? It’s partly because Downey is one of the great Hollywood comeback stories of all time, and I want to see that narrative arc continue trending upward. But I wouldn’t care so much about his personal story if he weren’t so damn compelling on screen. He knows it, too. Downey says he’ll be ” shocked ” (italics, courtesy of GQ ) if he doesn’t win at least one Oscar during his career and comparing himself to the current generation actors, he tells the magazine: “I’m probably one of the best. …But it’s not that big a deal. It’s not like this is the greatest swath or generation of actors that has ever come down the pike.” I don’t find that cocky. I find it authentic and true. Besides, as Downey also points out: “Nothing pleases me more than when somebody who was awe-inspired to be working with me realizes I’m just another schmuck that they’re bored of hanging out with on a set. I love that moment. I like it when that persistent illusion is smashed.” Okay, well, he’s probably being modest there. More on Robert Downey Jr.: Which ‘Avengers’ Cast Members Are Most Expendable? [ GQ ] Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
There’s a new TV spot for Iron Man 3 out, and it drops a few new tantalizing images and hints. The clip begins with the Mandarin ( Ben Kingsley ) channeling Richard Nixon with some “My fellow Americans” shtick before proclaiming that “my soldiers will destroy your country.” Among the scenes that accompany the Mandarin’s dire voiceover are shots of those shirtless men in metal harnesses that have been featured in previous trailers, which suggests they’re the army the Mandarin is referencing. Just a few seconds later, though, we get a glimpse of a couple of evil-looking human dudes with red eyeballs who look like they were borrowed from the Terminator franchise. My guess is the red eyes have something to do with Extremis. The video also includes more footage of the Iron Army and Tony Stark ( Robert Downey Jr. ) playing smart-ass. At one point, he wields two machine guns Say-Hello-to-My-Little-Friends style . Tony Stark as Scarface’ s Tony Montana? I like it. The full clip is below. Watch it and let me know what you think about the Mandarin’s soldiers. Too Terminator ? More on Iron Man 3 : WATCH: There’s My Boys! Final ‘Iron Man 3’ Trailer Offers Sneak Look At Tony Stark’s Metal Army ‘Iron Man 3’: Is The Mandarin An Extremist Fringe Republican? Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
I mean, don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t want to take on Mandarin myself. But if you tell someone they’ll never see you coming, well then, their guard is probably gonna be up pretty high. It’d be better to say, “You’ll see me coming! I’ll emerge from behind that Arby’s.” But then come out of the Long John SIlver’s next door and yell “Surprise attack!” Where were we? Oh yes, the first Iron Man 3 TV spot has debuted. Take a look: Iron Man 3 TV Spot Robert Downey, Jr. returns as Tony Stark in the film that will launch Marvel Phase 2 . Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Jon Favreau, Rebecca Hall, James Badge Dale, and Ben Kingsley also star. Catch Iron Man 3 in theaters beginning (Iron) May 3.
If you’ve read about the Iron Man 3 footage that Marvel Studios has shown to bloggers, then you know that, during the Mandarin’s helicopter attack on Casa Tony Stark ( Robert Downey Jr. ), Pepper Potts ( Gwyneth Paltrow ) ends up flying to safety in one of the armored suits. It sounds like a cool scene, and I won’t be surprised if it’s a set-up for another later in the movie. But I’m not so thrilled about Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige’s recent comments that Potts could suit up for her own adventures in future Iron Man installments. Kevin Feige Talks About Pepper Potts’ Possible Future In Armor Here’s what Feige says in an interview with About.com : I will tell you this. In this movie [ Iron Man 3 ] we play with the convention of the damsel in distress. We are bored by the damsel in distress. But, sometimes we need our hero to be desperate enough in fighting for something other than just his own life. So, there is fun to be had with “Is Pepper in danger or is Pepper the savior?” over the course of this movie. In terms of where we go with future movies, we’ll see. In the comic books she does get a taste for the suit and becomes her own hero named Rescue, who doesn’t necessarily battle other people, but is on missions to help people and to save people. Will we do that down the line with Gwyneth Paltrow? Who knows. But her being in the suit is something we have been playing with since Iron Man 2 , where we did some designs and it didn’t end up fitting in that movie. But the little taste you saw here [in an Iron Man 3 clip] is something that we’re certainly interested in. Why Pepper Potts As Rescue Is A Jump-The-Shark Idea I hope it’s a passing interest because the idea of Paltrow’s character donning her own metal suit (insert Spanx joke here) to rescue families threatened by a hurricane or some other catastrophe sounds like a jump-the-shark premise that is devoid of the tension and smart-assery that distinguishes the Iron Man movies. I’m not familiar with the comics storyline to which Feige refers, but “Rescue” sounds like a very Saturday-morning-cartoon name. And that’s where this G-rated idea belongs. If the Marvel Studios is serious about putting Goop-curating Gwynnie in full-metal jacket mode, then they’ve got to surprise the audience by having her play against type. Contrary to what Feige says in this interview, Paltrow should be kicking super-villain ass Michelle Rodriguez -style to the point where Tony feels threatened by her superhero potential. Now that’s an Iron Man subplot. Feel free to contact my agent. Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
