GTA IV Might Hurt Iron Man Opening

If there’s one thing people love, it’s the big budget superhero films. Whether people are drawn by the stars involved, a love of the character or the sheer love of explosions and fancy special effects, many of them have rocked the box office. Some of the lesser known heroes like Ghost Rider might have been less successful and there are probably a whole lot of people who don’t know much about Iron Man. Robert Downey Jr. is likely to draw a lot of people as he’s without a doubt one of the best actors we’ve seen in a superhero flick since Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan. Unfortunately for Marvel, there’s a lot of overlap between the comic book demographic and the video game demographic. Iron Man opens on May 2nd; GTA IV hits the shelves on April 29th, a mere handful of days previously. The folks behind Iron Man are worried that too many gamers are going to be glued to their couches playing GTA IV and will neglect to go see the film at all. There’s a precedent set as the weekend following the release of Halo 3 saw a major slump in ticket sales (although I don’t think there was anything good coming out that weekend, which might have been the real cause).