That’s right, today on DVD is the release of Fox TV movie Nick Fury:Agent of Shield starring David Hasselhoff. Oh, and there’s some movie about a guy called Iron Man that you may have heard of. He runs errands for Nick Fury, who is apparently also a master of disguise. Over the course of a decade he went from looking like Hasselhoff to Samuel L. Jackson.

Seriously though, this movie was a great opening showcase for Marvel’s new film studio. And it’s seen a career resurgence for Robert Downey Jr. who is suddenly one of the hottest actors in Hollywood again. Critic Ward Triplett of the Kansas City Star praises the extras on the two-disc and Blu-Ray versions of the flick, including a documentary called I Am Iron Man that runs for nearly two hours itself. Those purchasing the DVD at Wal-Mart get the live action film and the pilot episode for Iron Man:Armored Adventures, a NickToon that will debut in 2009. 

Image: Paramount Pictures, 2008

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Image details: Premiere Of Paramount’s "Iron Man" – Arrivals served by picapp.com

And a million Marvel fans just released their collective breath. Jon Favreau, director of the runaway hit Iron Man, has agreed to helm the sequel according to Deadline Hollywood Daily.

There was some concern on Favreau’s part about the extremely ambitious release schedule Marvel Studios is married to in order to hit a 2011 release date for Avengers. Marvel wants to start shooting next March with plans for Iron Man 2 to hit in April 2010.

Favreau is concerned (rightfully so, I think) that without writers, a script or much of anything else in place Marvel might be pushing things. But industry scuttlebutt is that Marvel Studios threw some of Tony Stark’s excess cash at Favreau and now it’s all good.

Please Marvel, take your time building up to the Avengers movie. It’s only one of the most anticipated movies in the history of comic book adaptations. The other, of course, would be a Justice League of America movie. But Time Warner is moving along with that at the pace of continental drift. So it’s up to you Marvel. Please don’t blow this.

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That’s right, make your Dr. Evil face, one billion dollars. That’s a lot of movie tickets. The surprise hit Iron Man was a production of Marvel Studios but distributed by Paramount and has pulled down $305 million domestically. It played to stellar reviews and will no doubt open the floodgates for more comic-related fare.

Indy drew mixed reviews, largely due to a complex plot involving Roswell and aliens. It’s funny, initially Cynthia and I were wondering whether an Indiana Jones sequel would fall under our sci fi/fantasy umbrella. Little did we know how sci-fi Indiana was going to get. Despite the ambivalence of reviewers, Indiana Jones and Steven Spielberg are guaranteed to make money together. They’ve raked in $291 million at this point.

But Paramount hasn’t just been a genre juggernaut. Family flick Kung Fu Panda has grossed $156 million domestically.

Image: Paramount Pictures, 2008

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He won’t be the only superhero joining the fold, as Wolverine himself Hugh Jackman will be immortalized as well. If this were a Marvel comic, two superheroes showing up at the same place unexpectedly would totally be cause for them to fight. And we’d have a perfect director in place to film the conflict as Batman director Tim Burton is getting his star in this group. That pretty much settles it. I demand that these three sit down and hash out Batman vs. Wolverine vs. Iron Man.

Yes, I realize that Batman is a DC character guaranteeing zero chance of this ever happening. It’s a shame. After all, that movie would be a definite billion-dollar blockbuster. But Ben Kingsley is also going onto the walk. Batman vs. Wolverine vs. Gandhi and his powers of peaceful resistance. Don’t try to tell me Kingsley wouldn’t do it. He’s in The Love Guru, it’s become blatantly obvious there’s no check he won’t take.

Image courtesy of Newscom.

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According to numbers provided by Nielsen, Marvel Comics’ Iron Man has made $177 million in 10 days. It raked in $50 million this past weekend to remain atop the box office charts.

Warner Bros. Speed Racer, which at one time was thought a potential rival for Iron Man, stalled into second place with $20 million. Critics mostly panned this Wachowski Bros. adaptation of the popular anime. Its price tag is rumored to be well over $100 million with millions more spent on marketing. Warner can’t be happy with this abysmal opening, Racer just barely edging out romcom What Happens In Vegas. Warner execs are already confirming there’s not much chance they’ll recoup their money on this one.

Tony Stark will face some heavy hitters in the battle for his lofty perch the next two weeks. The Chronicles of Narnia:Prince Caspian opens May 16 while Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is coming May 22.

© 2008 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Before then, Marvel plans a Thor movie in 2010 and a Captain America movie in 2011 as well. Iron Man, Cap and Thor are considered the “Big Three” where Marvel’s superteam is concerned. Still coming this year are the Incredible Hulk on June 13 and Punisher:War Zone on Dec. 5.

Marvel Studios won’t release any self-produced films in 2009, but will continue its X-Men franchise with X-Men Origins:Wolverine.

Images: Paramount Pictures 2008

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The Grand Theft Auto IV release wasn’t a factor, nor was any other film in theatres as Marvel’s Iron Man repulsor blasted his way to a $100 million weekend.

The first movie from Marvel Studios tallied $104.3 million including Thursday night previews. It was the fourth-best opening in that weekend’s history and the second highest non-sequel opening behind Spider-Man.

This film’s explosive opening catapults the lesser known Iron Man into the same stratosphere with heroes like Spidey, Batman and Superman. The movie enjoyed almost universal good press, a rarity for comic-book fare. Paramount’s exit polling said the audience was 65 percent male and 55 percent over age 25.

With that kind of opening, a minimum of two sequels is pretty much a given.

Images: Paramount Pictures 2008

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Stark was a boy genius and as an adult is still sometimes more boy than genius. He’s a corporate rock star and he lives the life access to excess often allows. He chases skirts, parties too hard and occasionally stops to design weapons that keep him rich enough to continue his foolishness.

Downey’s Stark is a walking one-liner that takes nothing seriously until an accident in the Middle East leaves him severely injured and captured by his enemies. They are conveniently equipped with the weapons Stark designed and he learns first hand of the devastation they can cause. It’s a life-changing moment for Stark and, of course, if he didn’t evolve into a hero we wouldn’t have a movie here.

Downey plays every aspect of Stark perfectly, both as the cavalier playboy he begins as and the hero he learns to become. The special effects are excellent, particularly when Iron Man has dogfights with Air Force fighters.

This film has rightly evoked comparisons to the Spider-Man trilogy. There are some great slapstick moments as this hero learns to fly and even has problems getting into and out of his armor. It’s easy to love this Iron Man because he is so human.

This movie truly captures the awesomeness of a superhero, both with his actions and the incredibly cool toys he gets to do the job with. Terrence Howard as Stark’s friend James Rhodes describes it best when he first sees the Iron Man armor, “the coolest thing he has ever seen.” There’s a bit of foreshadowing of Rhodes’ eventual evolution into War Machine, a fellow armored crime fighter. We’ll see that in the inevitable two sequels.

Howard has a good contrast with Downey as the mostly straight arrow military guy. Like all Stark’s relationships it’s a complex friendship. Sometimes Rhodey’s the good influence on Stark, sometimes it’s the other way around.

The relationship between Stark and Gwyneth Paltrow’s Pepper Potts has plenty of speed bumps also. Favreau resists the temptation to have these two hook up here. Both know Pepper would be good for Tony, but neither of them is sure the reverse is true. There’s an obvious attraction but both know the stakes. Something else for the sequels.

The villains don’t get as much character development. Jeff Bridges’ Obadiah Stane is so slimy one wonders how Stark could have ever trusted him. From there he quickly spirals from wanting to take over the company into wanting the world apparently. The terrorists are terrorists, killing indiscriminately in pursuit of their goals.

But one of Ol’ Shellhead’s weaknesses has always been his villains. The final fight between Iron Man and the upgraded Ironmonger is a classic sci-fi slugfest with Stark’s armor outgunned and underpowered.

Iron Man is truly a thinking man’s action movie. It looks at the reasons we fight wars and the consequences we don’t often think about without coming across as preachy or heavy-handed. Even when it deals with thorny issues, Iron Man never fails to keep the action, humor and popcorn fun factor coming. If even half of the summer blockbusters can live up to this standard, we’re in for a fun ride.

Images Paramount Pictures 2008

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Image details: Ironman Photocall served by picapp.com

Comic book historian Alan Kistler has compiled a list of essential reading for those want to know a little bit more about Iron Man. With advance buzz on the Marvel movie being excellent, there are a lot more people interested in this “second-tier” comic hero.

Comic Mix has the list of required reading here. Once you’ve soaked that up, I would add Civil War to the list as well. Iron Man is a pivotal figure in that storyline as the leader of the forces in favoring of superheroes registering their powers with the government.

It’s just a few hours now before Iron Man is on screens all over the world. Can you feel the excitement?

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Image details: Iron Man – Photocall served by picapp.com

Summer tentpole flick Iron Man will get an early start on the box office action, debuting on 2,000 screens May 1 at 8 p.m. That early limited release will bring the weekend numbers down, but Marvel and Paramount think they’ll make much of that money back if positive word-of-mouth holds up.

They hope to see Friday and Saturday numbers spike as those early viewers go tell it on the Marvel mountain. Of course, if the diehard audience doesn’t like it that measure could backfire. This one is huge not just because it’s the first summer blockbuster out of the gate, but because it is Marvel’s first movie as a standalone studio. With good word coming from critics, who are often harsh on comic book material, most experts expect $70 million or more from the Robert Downey Jr. vehicle.

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