Iron Man now has the second-best-ever opening for a non-sequel, and when you factor in the overseas grosses ($96.7 million and counting), it's very nearly enough to make the movie business look healthy, despite the fact that this weekend's box office was down 15 percent from the same one last year (in which Spider-Man 3 made $151 million, though that was without any Grand Theft Auto–related competition). "Nonetheless, Iron Man did better than expected," says Hollywood adding machine Paul Dergarabedian. "This is certainly the shot in the arm the marketplace has needed."

Patrick Dempsey's Made of Honor, felled by tepid reviews and, probably, Grand Theft Auto IV, was only able to pull in $15.5 million, which actually isn't too bad for an awful movie starring Patrick Dempsey, all things considered.

Marvel turns `Iron Man' into gold with $100M-plus debut [AP]