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You know, the Iron Man in Black Sabbath's song is kind of a jerk.

Kim Hollis: Iron Man 2 became the fifth biggest opening of all-time, earning $128.1 million this weekend. Is this more, less or about what you expected?

Josh Spiegel: This is right about where I expected the movie to open. Obviously, anything less than the original Iron Man opening weekend of just over $100 million would've been shocking, and I was not one of the people who assumed IM2 would top The Dark Knight's opening weekend gross. All things considered, I can't see Paramount, Marvel, or Disney (which may not have distributed the film, but is probably thrilled) being anything less than cheered at this response. It's obvious from Sherlock Holmes that Robert Downey Jr. as an action star is something that's not getting old any time soon, and Iron Man 2 just compounded that idea. It's an impressive take from a pretty awesome summer movie.

Tom Houseman: Quoted from what I wrote about Iron Man 2 back in early April: "What would Dark Knight have earned without the boost of Ledger? $130 million? I think that's a fair number for Iron Man 2... I could see this movie getting as high as $140 million and as low as $120 million, so I think splitting the difference sounds about right." I am a God. That is all.

Michael Lynderey: It's less than I expected. But when a movie comes out of nowhere to open with $102 million, should we really assume anything less than a record-breaker is in store for the sequel? Especially after the nutcase box office year that was 2009... What's really shocking is that this opening isn't too far from what Alice in Wonderland pulled in, and the total gross for Iron Man 2 might not even reach what Alice is finishing with ($330 million). That's the scary power of 3D.






Shalimar Sahota: This is actually a little more than what I was expecting. I always knew The Dark Knight's openeing weekend would be safe, and although Iron Man 2 was going to get a bump, I was expecting it to fall somewhere around $120 - 125 million. The summer movie season has only just started; could 2010 be the year with the most $100 million+ openings?

Jason Lee: I was definitely expecting IR2 to push into the $140s given the stellar quality of the first film and the "ohmygod, let summer finally start" BO boost that always seems to happen in our first week out. While this HAS to be considered a success, it's sort of like watching Michael Phelps "only" bring home four gold medals. It's a fantastic outcome that millions of other films/athletes would love to have . . . but there's an inescapable sense of what could have been.

Kim Hollis: While I don't think this number is a disappointment (at all), I do believe there's a perception that it should have done better. We've seen movies take big, big jumps in opening weekend box office from the original to the sequel, so a lot of people theorized that a similar circumstance would occur here. I was expecting more, though I'm not surprised by the result in the least.

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