Will “GTA IV” prove the chink in “Iron Man”?
The big question on the Web going into this weekend is whether enthusiasm over “Grand Theft Auto IV,” which is expected to break the sales records set by “Halo 3,” will damage the all-important first-weekend take for the highly anticipated film “Iron Man.”
Despite criticism from MADD and other groups, “GTA IV” is receiving rave reviews and notching great sales. Our own Matt Price of Nerdage reports, via Reuters UK, that “GTA IV” broke single-day sales records in Great Britain, with sales of 609,000 copies.
“GTA IV” was released Tuesday at midnight and is expected to gross about $400 million in the first week, according to this interesting CNN.com report.
The story quotes Edward Woo, a research analyst specializing in media and interactive entertainment, as predicting: “‘Iron Man’ will still have a pretty good release, but intuitively, I think it’s got be impacted when both share a similar audience and genre.”
But the story also includes a quote from Paramount Pictures Vice Chairman Rob Moore, who told EW.com: “It’s crazy to think that young males can’t carve out two hours for ‘Iron Man.’ It’s going to be a great week to be a young guy.”
I think it’s important to point out that “GTA IV” takes 30 to 65 hours to complete, depending on skill level. Unless they took a week off from work/school or are independently wealthy, people who stood in line to buy it Tuesday at midnight already have been forced to put down the controller at least once or twice.
My take: It’s a pretty safe bet that most will find 2 1/2 hours to see “Iron Man” this weekend on the big screen, especially after the largely rave reviews. RottenTomatoes.com has “Iron Man” with a 94 percent rating and is touting it as the best-reviewed movie of the year.
Also, “Iron Man” will probably get good traffic from families who are willing to take a chance on a PG-13 rating for superhero violence, just like they did with “Transformers” and “Spider-Man.”
Some people blamed “Halo 3,” with its $170 million in first-day sales and $300 million in its first week, for the box-office bust of “The Heartbreak Kid,” according to CNN.com.
Having reviewed “The Heartbreak Kid,” I can tell you that’s just ridiculous. It may have been the first reunion of the Farrelly brothers and Ben Stiller since “There’s Something About Mary,” but “The Heartbreak Kid” just wasn’t that funny. It only got a 29 percent Rotten Tomatoes rating, so the word was definitely out that it wasn’t worth taking time away from Master Chief to see it.
Plus, with a big-screen spectacle like “Iron Man,” there’s a much greater incentive to experience it in the theater rather than waiting for DVD.
My prediction is that “Iron Man” will do just fine even with “GTA IV” roaming the streets. But we’ll have to wait for Monday to know for sure.
What do you think, BAM’s Blog readers?
-BAM
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Comments
Comic book movies that are big blockbusters, like Spiderman, make the majority of their money from people other than the fanboys anyway.
Older comic book fans, younger fans who aren’t allowed to play GTA, female fans (which Iron Man has a surprisingly large amount of), and mainstream fans just looking to kick off the summer movie season with something fun are all going to make this a blockbuster.
This rumor is just Hollywood trying to make the case for video games hurting movies in case one of the crappy movies they make doesn’t do well (like Heartbreak Kid).
Also, fanboys are going to have a hard time not being in the know when they run into mainstream people who have seen a comic book movie they haven’t.
Iron Man vs. Master Chief…tough call. I’m still ensnared in my quest for acheivements! Iron Man vs. Niko Bellic, Iron Man all the way! Never been a real big fan of GTA.