Iron Man Film Hauls Boatloads of Cash Despite GTA 4

Contrary to speculation that the release of Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto IV would harm the Iron Man box office take, the film pulled roughly $104M in weekend ticket sales, Variety reports.

Industry figureheads and analysts alike had been raising questions as to Rockstar's open-world action title's effect on Iron Man's performance as early as March, suggesting that the title would steal the spotlight from the comic book adaptation.

But with a relatively stellar opening weekend, it appears that the release of GTA IV last week has had little effect on Iron Man's sales. Sales data for the film's multiplatform game adaptation, however, has not yet been made available. Variety's Ben Fritz suspects that the game will have a more realized effect on home video sales and TV ratings than big screen features.

Last fall, several Hollywood executives blamed the arrival of Bungie's Halo 3 (X360) for a 27% drop in ticket sales and the lackluster performance of The Heartbreak Kid, causing some to fear the repercussions of Grand Theft Auto IV's release.