Iron Man released
On May 2 2008 Iron Man the latest big-budget action film based on a Marvel Comics character debuts in some 4100 theaters in the United States and Canada raking in an estimated 32.5 million on its opening day.Co-created by Stan Lee the legendary writer-editor behind Spider-Man the Fantastic Four X-Men and the Incredible Hulk among others Iron Man made his first appearance in the pages of Marvels comic books in 1963.The super heros trek to the big screen began in 1990 when Universal Studios purchased the film rights from Marvel.The rights were later sold to 20th Century Fox and then New Line Cinema before Marvel Studios re-acquired them in 2006.
The 150 million movie was the first to be financed completely by Marvel which together with the distributor Paramount Pictures poured another 75 million into a wide-ranging marketing campaign.Iron Man starred Robert Downey Jr.as Tony Stark the billionaire owner of a company that manufactures and sells high-tech weapons.While in Afghanistan to demonstrate a new weapon of mass destruction the so-called Jericho missile Stark is violently seized as a hostage by a terrorist group who demand that he make one of the missiles for them.
Instead Stark manages to build a powerful suit of armor that allows him to escape when he returns home and finds that his company is involved in illicit weapons trading with potentially devastating consequences he refines his new high-tech armor in order to transform himself into Iron Man and defeat the nefarious scheme.Downey was an Oscar nominee for his portrayal of the comedic actor Charlie Chaplin in the 1992 biopic Chaplin but had more recently become better known for his struggles with drug addiction.A surprise choice for Iron Man he unveiled a newly buff physique for the role and critics almost universally hailed his suave charismatic performance as the films central triumph.Terrence Howard co-starred as Starks Air Force officer friend while Gwyneth Paltrow played his adoring assistant and Jeff Bridges was his business partner Obadiah Stane.
Iron Mans director Jon Favreau first made his name in Hollywood as the screenwriter and star of Swingers (1996).Favreau previously co-starred in another (less successful) comic book adaptation 2003s Daredevil with Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner.As a director he helmed the high-profile comedy Elf (2003) starring Will Ferrell and the fantasy film Zathura (2005).After a 51 million opening weekend Iron Man went on to gross more than 300 million at the domestic box office.
Its release kicked off a summer packed with super-hero movies including the big-screen returns of the Incredible Hulk Batman and Hellboy.Like Batman Begins (2005) Iron Man told the story of a super heros origins and like the earlier filmwhich was itself a prequel to three previous modern Batman filmsits ending segued easily into a sequel Iron Man 2 (2010).
