Box Office: 'Robin Hood' can't steal the top slot from 'Iron Man 2'

Russell Crowe and "Robin Hood" couldn't take down "Iron Man 2" at the box office.

Credit: Universal Pictures

Hardly unexpected, but even with a 70% opening day to Friday drop "Iron Man 2" ruled the box office once again, even if a pesky "Robin Hood" tried it's best to steal the crown away.  The Jon Favreau blockbuster earned almost $15 million on Friday for approximately $174 million domestic in just eight days. That puts the sequel about $30 million ahead of the first "Iron Man" at this juncture, but the drop is troublesome for Paramount, Disney and Marvel Studios.  At this point, it appears "IM2" could end up with a similar $318 million total to the first installment or even a tad less when all is said and done.  Considering the picture is doing stellar business overseas (it's almost matched the original's foreign total in less than two weeks), the studios will at least have that to pat themselves on the back about (or maybe not).  Needless to say, "Iron Man 2's" chances of winning the summer box office derby, as slyly predicted by this pundit, are now null and void.

Opening a bit under expectations with just $13 million was the Ridley Scott/Russell "don't ask me about accents" Crowe's "Robin Hood." The new take on the classic British hero is looking at around $35-40 million for the weekend.  Universal was hoping for more than $45 million, but like their competitors, will have to smile at the huge take "Hood" is stealing from moviegoers overseas. Reports had the adventure pulling in an estimated $75 million outside the U.S.

Among other new releases, Summit's "Letters to Juliet" didn't pan out exactly as expected.  The Amanda Seyfried romantic drama found $5 million for what should be a $13-15 million weekend.  However, with good word of mouth, "Letters" could do well in the long run with little competition for teenage girls until June.

Fox Searchlight's basketball rom com "Just Wright" opened to $2.9 million in just 1,831 theaters. It should finish between $8-9 million for the weekend.  Probably not what the studio was hoping for from a Queen Latifah comedy.

Look for final weekend estimates tomorrow on HitFix.

Gregory Ellwood
Editor-in-Chief, Co-Founder

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With over a decade of experience in the movie industry, Ellwood survived working for two major studios and has written for Variety, MSN and the LA Times. A co-founder of HitFix, Ellwood spends his time relaxing hitting 3’s on the basketball court and following his beloved Clippers.