"Iron Man 2" Opens To Big Numbers

Theaters throughout the country unveiled Jon Favreau's "Iron Man 2" last night.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the sequel to "Iron Man," starring Robert Downey, Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow, made $7.5 million from it's 12:01 a.m. Friday screenings.

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More than 2,500 locations showed the comic book action movie at midnight, kicking off the summer box office season. For the rest of the weekend, "Iron Man 2" will play in 4,380 domestic theatres, which is the widest opening weekend release in history.

The Paramount picture is widely expected to make as much as $140 million or more through Sunday. 2008's Batman film "The Dark Knight" holds the record for the biggest domestic opening weekend with its $158.4 million debut.

"Iron Man 2" represents the first Marvel film since Disney bought Marvel last year. The film also stars Scarlett Johansson, Mickey Rourke, Don Cheadle, Sam Rockwell and Samuel L. Jackson.

The film opened last weekend in European markets and topped the box office in most of them.