Box Office Tracking: Iron Man targets $102M by Monday Morning

I did a personal survey of studio sources today, and they were unanimous in saying that the release of Grand Theft Auto IV, the Xbox 360 and Sony Playstation 3 video game sensation released on Tuesday, will have absolutely no effect whatsoever on the... box office performance of Iron Man (Paramount) this weekend. As I wrote on Monday, this Jon Favreau-directed comic book adaptation is out-tracking last summer’s Dreamworks/Paramount smash Transformers, which is no small feat. Iron Man is not one of Marvel’s “top shelf” comic book heroes, and yet they have self-financed a film that is getting raves from critics (93% Fresh at Rotten Tomatoes) and industry tracking shows Un-Aided Awareness, an excellent measure of buzz and anticipation, approaching 30%.