He's no Iron Man or team of mutants, but Wolverine kicked off summer with an impressive $87 million at the box office this weekend.
Add in $73 million from 101 foreign markets where it opened simultaneously and "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" generated $160 million in worldwide ticket sales, according to studio estimates.
Although that's a solid start for Fox's $140-million-plus production, "Wolverine's" opening weekend gross doesn't qualify it for the big leagues of summer event or superhero flicks. Last year on the first weekend in May, Marvel's self-financed "Iron Man" opened to about $200 million worldwide. ("Wolverine" didn't play in Mexico because of the swine flu outbreak, depriving the film of about $5 million.)
"Wolverine's" opening is almost exactly on par with the second "X-Men" movie, "X2," which launched on the same weekend in 2003. Given six years of ticket-price inflation, which has totaled more than 20% in the U.S., equivalent grosses actually indicate a significant drop in audience interest.
Also factor in "Wolverine's" higher production budget and the industrywide decline in DVD sales, and Fox, along with its financing partner Dune Entertainment, may find its latest film isn't as profitable as previous ones.
This year's summer-opening event movie started off just as strong as the last, grossing $35 million on Friday, signaling that online piracy and fear of swine flu didn't affect attendance, as some had speculated.
But "Wolverine's" $29.75 million in ticket sales Saturday was 16% less than that of "Iron Man," indicating weaker word of mouth. (The new film was hurt by Saturday night's Boston-Chicago NBA playoff game; Fox said ticket sales were significantly lower in those two cities.)
Getting to the $459 million in worldwide ticket sales reached by 2006's "X-Men: The Last Stand" or the $408 million of "X2" may depend on a surprising demographic: women.
Though men traditionally dominate the audience for comic book movies, 47% of "Wolverine" ticket buyers were female, which the studio attributed to the appeal of star Hugh Jackman. Since Paramount's "Star Trek," which opens Friday, is tracking primarily with men, continued interest among women will be key to "Wolverine" holding up at the box office.
"Females were especially positive on this movie, and it really all comes back to Hugh," said Chris Aronson, Fox's senior vice president of domestic distribution.
