Remember last year when a then relatively unknown Marvel superhero got his big screen debut? He goes by the alias Iron Man and he earned nearly $100 million at the box-office in his opening weekend.
If ticket pre-sales are any indicator, it’s possible that Wolverine in his solo spin-off origin film may beat Iron Man‘s opening weekend. It doesn’t seem like that leaked, unfinished version of X-Men Origins: Wolverine is hampering pre-sales as MovieTickets.com is reporting that it’s currently outselling Iron Man 3-to-1 in ticket sales in the same time frame prior to release.
Surprised? Impressed? Well, that’s not all! J.J. Abrams franchise-saving Star Trek is doing even better than that despite the fact it is being released a week later. Below is the report detailing the advanced ticket numbers:
X-MEN OUTSELLING IRON MAN
As of Wednesday, MovieTickets.com is reporting that “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” is currently outpacing ticket sales for “Iron Man” 3-to-1 at the same point in the sales cycle (nine days prior to the film’s release).
Both films boast release dates during the first weekend in May during the last two years. “X-Men” releases Friday, May 1, 2009. “Iron Man” released in 2008 on Friday, May 2.”
STAR TREK OUTSELLING X-MEN
Despite releasing a week later than “X-Men,” “Star Trek” has already sold 25% more advance tickets at MovieTickets.com than “X-Men.”
It seems that the economy sure isn’t affecting the movie business negatively this summer, and that’s a good thing considering the plethora of major summer tent-pole films we’ll be seeing this year.
What do you think of the pre-ticket sales numbers? Do you think they’re a strong indicator of what we’ll see opening weekend in terms of box-office sales? And, more importantly, will you be seeing these two movies? I know I will.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine opens next Friday, May 1 2009. Star Trek hits theaters the following weekend on May 8th with 7:00pm screenings on May 7th.