'Iron Man 3' kicks off US, Canada run with $15.6M ticket sales

International hit "Iron Man 3" flew into U.S. and Canadian theaters, kicking off Hollywood's summer blockbuster season with $15.6 million in ticket sales late Thursday and early Friday.

The superhero sequel from Walt Disney Co's Marvel studio is expected to finish the weekend with one of the biggest debuts in film history. Box office analysts predict the movie will bring in $150 million or more from Friday through Sunday, likely ranking in the top five all-time openings.

The opening night sales fell short of the $18.7 million earned a year ago by Disney's "The Avengers," which brought together Iron Man, The Hulk and other Marvel superheroes. "Avengers" went on to earn $207 million in its first three days, a record for the North American (U.S. and Canadian) market.

"Iron Man 3," starring Robert Downey Jr. as billionaire businessman Tony Stark, has pulled in $345.4 million in overseas markets since it debuted April 24, Disney said on Friday. The film set opening day records in several countries including China and Russia.

In "Iron Man 3," Stark fights to save the world from an extremist known as The Mandarin, played by Ben Kingsley. — Reuters

source: gmanetwork.com

Gwyneth Paltrow's 'Iron Man 3' premiere dress is stunning and sheer

After being dubbed this year's "World's Most Beautiful Woman" by “People Magazine”, the Oscar-winner has now made waves with what she wore to the “Iron Man 3” premiere in Hollywood last April 24.

Held at California's El Capitan Theatre, Paltrow strode down the red carpet in a stunning and strategically sheer dress by designer Antonio Berardi from his Fall 2013 collection.

The dress is a floor-length gown in silver with green trims that features sheer, very opaque black panels running down the sides that bared her torso and a fair amount of her backside.

By making it to the top of “People Magazine's” “Most Beautiful” list the star, who plays Tony Stark's beau Pepper Potts, has toppled R&B singer Beyonce off the spot. Other celebrities who've shared the accolade include Jennifer Lopez, Julia Roberts, Halle Berry and Jennifer Aniston.

Paltrow is 40 years old and married to Coldplay singer Chris Martin, with whom she has a two-year-old child. Though she 's routinely featured on the magazine's list, this is the first time she's graced the cover as the most beautiful woman. -- KDM, GMA News

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Want to be Iron Man? That'll be $10 billion

Want to have your own working Iron Man exosuit? Yes, it's possible —but you'll have to shell out a whopping $10.086 billion (about P416.4 billion), according to finance site MoneySupermarket.com.

MoneySupermarket.com noted the $10-billion figure is six times the $1.6 billion needed to be Iron Man in last year's "Iron Man 2," to account for various upgrades in terms of hardware and billionaire-playboy lifestyle.

One-fifth PHL national budget

 

In the Philippines, that amount —$10,086,485,000 or PhP416,420,533,225— would be a little over a fifth of the Philippines' P2.006-trillion budget for 2013.

 

 

"Following the release of Iron Man 2 we calculated the Cost of Being Iron Man at a staggering $1.6 billion, and since then Tony Stark's been very busy constructing at least 36 new suits. If you thought fulfilling your dream of being Iron Man was out of reach at $1.6 billion, it's now six times that!" MoneySupermarket.com said.

 

 

It said the updates for "Iron Man 3" may include new armor options such as an "offensive artillery suit, a disaster rescue suit, a stealth suit, a heavy lifting suit and even one capable of flying in space - handy for meeting other galactic heroes for future movie releases."

 

 

Also, the new movie shows Stark spending a fortune on a new electric super-car and some home improvements —or even a rebuild of his Malibu mansion.

Cost breakdown

 

 MoneySupermarket.com's infographic showed the new suit alone would cost $110.302 million, including:


    Helmet with holographic heads-up display: $54.1 million
    Arc reactor nuclear power source: $36 million
    Gold-titanium exoskeleton suit: $10 million
    Boot-mounted repulsor jetpacks: $3.8 million
    Hand-mounted stabilization and maneuvering jets: $2 million
    Back- and shoulder-mounted ailerons: $2 million
    Wrist-mounted antitank missile launchers: $1.5 million
    Thigh-mounted flare system: $500,000
    Shoulder-mounted anti-personnel guns: $400,000
    Hip-mounted battery packs: $2,000


This does not even include the mind-controlled armor, the cost of which is not immediately known.

Also throw in $10 million for JARVIS, Stark's AI computer, which controls his house, workshop and components of the Iron Man suits.

Stark also has a Malibu cliffside mansion worth $25 million, and $1.464 billion in suits ranging from $0 in Mark 1 to $500 million for the Mark 7.

Throw in another $7 billion for the suits in "Iron Man 3" including the Marks 17, 33, 35, 38, 39, 40 and 42, and War machine Mark 2.

As if these were not expensive enough, factor in Stark's cars, including a 1932 Ford Flathead roadster worth $40,000, a 1967 Shelby Cobra worth $45,000, a Saleen S7 worth $550,000, an Audi R8 worth $130,000, and a Tesla Roadster worth $110,000 - as well as a Rolls Royce Phantom worth $388,000, an Audi R8 Spyder worth $152,000 and an Audi R8 e-Tron worth $250,000. — TJD, GMA News

 

source: gmanetwork.com