State of the Franchise: Iron Man
By Jason Barney
June 25, 2013
BoxOfficeProphets.com
As I got a little older, I watched the cartoons and movies. I wasn’t old enough to see Christopher Reeve's Superman in the theaters, but I still remember watching him fly across the television screen in my living room. Then my fandom expanded beyond the DC characters to Hulk, Spiderman, and Wolverine. My teenage years approached and I left the cartoons behind. I still embraced the stories on the printed page, the comics having a special place in my childhood.
Special effects technology increased and movies began to enter my entertainment consciousness. The inevitable question began to arise…would more of the comic book heroes of my youth make it onto the big screen? As I left high school, Michael Keaton’s Batman films were a bit of an answer, but how many hand drawn heroes would earn live action status?
That question was given added depth at the end of the 1990s when rumors about comic book movies started to circulate. In fact, I remember reading an article with the basic premise: can Marvel save Hollywood?
In 2000 Marvel and 20th Century Fox launched the first of the X-Men films. In 2002 Sony/Columbia set the bar for success higher with the introduction of Tobey Maguire as Spiderman. Wildly successful comic book characters graced the big screen almost every year. The Hulk received two films. Even Daredevil made his way into theaters.
The most recent incarnation of the Marvel world came in 2008 when Paramount spent $140 million on a mid-level comic character, Iron Man. Some wondered if the effort was worth it, but the reception audiences gave the film became a watershed moment in the history of comic characters on screen. Iron Man shocked the box office world with an incredible opening weekend. It rewrote expectations.
The first Iron Man did more than create a franchise. It created several of them.
Five years and five Marvel movies later, Iron Man has become the definition of success. With Iron Man 3 crossing the $400 million domestic mark, it is appropriate to take a look at how far things have come.
Iron Man (2008) - 8/10
Maybe it is not the best superhero movie, but it is damned good. The writers chose a very current events-grounded story in which brilliant and wealthy playboy Tony Stark is exposed to the ravages of warfare and greed. Stark’s company made massive amounts of money as a defense contractor; investors had their pockets lined for decades. When Stark is betrayed by fate and wealthy interests, he gets an eye opening account as to the effectiveness of his own weapons. He survives the double cross, and in his escape the origins of Iron Man are explained.
The film was an instant success. Paramount slotted it into the beginning of the summer box office season, which has become an event weekend. The early buzz pushed it to a staggering $98 million opening and the positive reviews propelled it to over $585 million globally. Perhaps best measured against the yearly competition, Iron Man’s total domestic take was only outpaced by one other film, The Dark Knight. It ended up ahead of icons like Indiana Jones and James Bond. It was notably ahead of the pop culture Twilight film.
All of the talent involved just gelled. Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark comes across as arrogant and likeable at the same time. Jeff Bridges played the dual role of old ally and villain surprisingly well. Gywenth Paltrow is tantalizingly beautiful as the love interest. The action was faced paced and the story delivered. Success with Iron Man allowed Marvel to begin building something special.
Iron Man 2 (2010) - 6/10
Iron Man 2 brings back the surprisingly popular character for a story that didn’t entertain as well as the first. Tony Stark is presented in a more vulnerable way, but his ego, arrogance, and vanity are annoyingly overdone. The method that ensured his survival and allowed Iron Man’s creation is slowly killing him. At the same time, the iron suit/palladium technology is being developed by other companies and pirated by villainous rivals. Hints of the broader Marvel storyline involving SHIELD and the Avengers are woven into the plot, but the action involving Stark fighting off a power grab by Hammer Weapons is not as entertaining as 2008 film.
The box office for Iron Man 2 sizzled. It was the third highest grossing film in the U.S that year, earning a healthy $312 million. The international markets provided money equal to that domestic amount, for a whooping $623 million. Again comparing it against the competition, only a handful of films outpaced Iron Man 2’s production. The once second tier comic character was holding its own against giants like Tom Hanks and Toy Story 3, Johnny Depp and Alice in Wonderland, and the Harry Potter films.
The faults of Iron Man 2 aren’t enough to totally drag it down, but there are some serious flaws. The character of Hammer is so annoying viewers grit their teeth just watching him. Mickey Rourke isn’t bad as the historical heel to the Stark family, but the most significant aspect of Iron Man 2 is its status as a set up for the rest of the Marvel films. Samuel L. Jackson and Scarlet Johansson play significant roles, laying the groundwork for the entrance of multiple other characters from the comic universe.
The Avengers (2012) - 9/10
While this is not technically part of the Iron Man franchise, it was always the goal. The Captain America and Thor films in 2011 both owe their existence to the blockbuster status achieved by Tony Stark in previous years. Each of these became a back story for the ultimate prize - all of these heroes coming together for one action-packed, save the Earth extravanganza.
The size of The Avengers' success was head-scratching. The opening in the U.S. garnered an unimaginable $207 million. Over the next several weeks, the leggy film outperformed even the highest expectations, bringing in a jaw-dropping $623 million. When the company you keep is Avatar, Titanic, and The Dark Knight (the only others to bring in over $500 million domestically), you know how well you have done. The global take was even better, over $1.5 billion.
The previous Iron Man adventures allowed all of this to happen, and it can be argued he was the most important character in the biggest film of 2012. It was great to see Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Hawkeye, and Black Widow together, but they had all been woven in and around Iron Man’s presence.
Iron Man 3 (2013) - 7/10
Film three relies on the history of Tony Stark for the basis of the action in the present. A former potential business associate, Aldrich Killian, takes his revenge, spreading terrorism and mayhem in his efforts to destroy Stark. There are some very good sequences that unfold over the course of the movie, including the awesome missile attack on the Stark residence, The fight sequence at the end is fast-paced. There are a couple of nice twists that work well, one involving the Mandarin, and another that has Stark not being in the Iron Man suit for most of the film.
Iron Man 3 has already set some box office records, giving us further indication that the health of the franchise is better than most. The Marvel Universe and the Iron Man character have become the definition of big budget flicks. Only a few other contemporary franchises are worth even comparing to the superhero, as his appeal is so far ahead of most other series. Harry Potter? Transformers? The Dark Knight? Pirates of the Caribbean? With the success of Avengers last year and the third Iron Man installment this year, is this currently the most popular franchise out there?
There are some series that suffer from overexposure, or that just don’t perform as well as earlier films. Iron Man shows no such fatigue. The third film is a solid, worthy entry. The numbers for Iron Man 3 are staggering. They are not quite that of the Avengers, but when being compared to the largest opening weekend of all time, you understand the comparison. It has amassed a $403 million take in the U.S. and may become the 13th-highest grossing film domestically. If that isn’t enough, only four others have made more overseas, and one of those was The Avengers, just last year. Marvel has brought in $1.2 billion from Iron Man 3 thus far, and it still has the last legs of its run to go.
Conclusion: This franchise is the poster child for success. Every other film series has to look at what Iron Man and The Avengers accomplished and know it is the pinnacle of movie storytelling. It started in 2008 and it continues during the summer of 2013. With talk of Robert Downey Jr. signing on for more films, and Iron Man’s presence already locked in for the Avengers sequel, it is possible this franchise has not yet peaked. From a box office record stand point, that is remarkable.
I think back to the article that asked if Marvel could save Hollywood.
That has been answered.
With franchises like Iron Man as the bar for success, now the question becomes: Will we ever see this again?