I'm pretty sure by now there's no doubt Iron Man 2 will be as successful as the first, and may even be better. One of the core tools for executives is the tracking survey. Tracking provides a snapshot of the marketplace, measuring the awareness of and interest in movies that are currently in release. For Iron Man 2, the LA Times reports:
"Much of the talk on Thursday among executives who closely follow tracking surveys wasn’t about any movies playing this weekend. It was about Marvel Studios’ “Iron Man 2,” which opens May 7 and showed up on the two major polling services used by studios this weekend.
The movie is generating huge pre-release interest with all demographic groups, the executives said, and is nearly certain to far exceed the $98.6-million first-weekend domestic gross of the original “Iron Man” on the same weekend in 2008.
“Iron Man 2” is expected to open to more than $100 million and has a shot at exceeding the all-time domestic record of $158.4 million set by the “The Dark Knight” in 2008.
That's particularly notable because, unlike such recent major hits as "Alice in Wonderland" and "Avatar," "Iron Man 2" won't be in 3-D and thus won't get the benefit of higher-than-normal ticket prices."
With Iron Man 2 a guaranteed hit, we fans are expecting Marvel to prove they could do what a wise film did, once again, and redefine the comic book movie genre. Iron Man 2 could set the genre on a higher level, and hopefully that level takes over their upcoming slate, including Thor, First Avenger: Captain America, and the hero clash, The Avengers. Even films that aren't produced by Marvel Studios should take notes.
Time will tell, but we won't have to wait much longer as of we're approaching the May 7th release, to the sequel.