Wolverine Wolfs Down $34 Million Friday

Star-crossed X-Men spinoff on track for $85 million opening weekend

By Joal Ryan May 02, 2009 4:17 PMTags
X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Hugh Jackman, Liev SchreiberTwentieth Century-Fox Film

Wolverine has a little bit of Iron Man in him after all.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine kicked off the summer box office with an estimated $34 million Friday, Exhibitor Relations reported today.

The gross put the star-crossed superhero flick—leaked print, swine-flu scare, bad reviews and all—in the neighborhood of Iron Man, which began last summer with a $35.2 million bang.

Exhibitor Relations was calling for Wolverine to close out the weekend with $85 million, a haul that would make it the fourth- or fifth-biggest summer starter this decade, depending on whether it tops its own relation, X2: X-Men United ($85.6 million in 2003). 

Iron Man posted a $98.6 million three-day opening weekend.