'Wolverine' Trouncing 'Iron Man' Pre-Sale Figures

Remember when X-Men Origins: Wolverine was kidnapped by those Somali pirates? I think I've got my facts right on that. Anyway, the talk quickly turned to whether or not the illegal downloads would hurt ticket sales. The short answer is no. Citing sales from MovieTickets.com, Worst Previews reports that Wolverine is outselling Iron Man. There are a few factors here, most notably that Wolverine is an established film character and Iron Man wasn't. But there's also the rather bizarre trend of increased ticket sales in the first four months of 2009 versus 2008. The bad economy has been a big win for the movie business. Apparently, it's not just that Wolverine is outselling Iron Man but that, with a week to go, it is outselling last summer's Marvel hero three to one. That will probably mean a robust opening weekend for Wolverine, one only a handful of movies the rest of the year are capable of matching. Don't forget: Iron Man did an eye-opening $100 million last May, and with audiences flooding theaters in numbers about 15% larger than last year, and with these sales figures, I think we might be able to push that summer debut a little further than that. It probably won't be the summer box office champ, but it's certainly a candidate for the top three.

Comments

[anon]

ugh don't believe the hype. remember the whole hype around ticket sales for watchmen and the incredible hulk? those didn't exactly break the box office either. it's just fanboys doing what fanboys do getting in line even when there is no line.