Iron Man 2 premiered last week and totally dominated the box office. Unfortunately for Iron Man, well we all know the Summer lineup is full of big time blockbusters, which often doesn’t give a lot of time for big movies to make their buck. This is because before you know it, the next big movie is out and the one that came out last week is forgotten. This week will prove to be a bit interesting as Tony Stark and Iron Man battles Robin Hood and ummm Robin Hood at the box office.

This brings up a couple things. Iron Man 2 for one is a pretty good movie. It’s fun, entertaining, full of action and straight cool. Not to mention it appeals to 50 year old men who are there to escape their job-to-sleep lives as well as 8 year-olds who dream of flying and shooting lasers. However, I think that the box office performance of Iron Man was below expectations in the first week. Disney definitely expected a better showing as there were even hopes to top the Dark Knight all-time opening weekend, which was clearly missed.  Plus, Iron Man 2 will not even one week of easy sailing because Robin Hood is premiering this Friday.

Robin Hood starring Russel Crowe and Cate Blanchett and directed by Ridley Scott hits theaters this Friday. Yes, this movie looks like the sequel to Gladiator and for those who don’t know the film reunites Crowe and Scott who did Gladiator and American Gangster together. I honestly could care less that this movie looks like a remaking of Gladiator, which I consider to be one of the all-time great movies ever made. Robin Hood looks good – plain and simple.  If you stripped Maximus of a sword and handed him a bow & arrow you would get this movie. You have a king that everyone hates, you have a natural born leader commanding the masses, and you have some sort of rebellion against tyranny – yep that pretty much spells Gladiator. Even if the story is Robin Hood now, it’s still going to be good.

Robin Hood looks damn entertaining. I am a sucker for the period-war films especially when Crowe is involved, and Ridley Scott (Alien, Blade Runner) rarely makes a bad movie.  I know there are going to be haters out there who are partial to Gladiator, but this movie is going to be entertaining. The studios poured in $200+ million (after tax incentives due to tax laws of film locations) and won’t let this movie be a bust. If it doesn’t do well this weekend, I sense that it has longevity.  People tend to like Crowe, people love the Robin Hood story, and movie-goers love epic-war films.

This all leads to the question will Robin Hood actually beat Iron Man this weekend. If so, Iron Man will likely prove to a box office disappointment because Robin Hood is only the tip of the iceberg with big movies set to debut this month (Sex and the City 2, Prince of Persia, and Shrek). I don’t think Robin Hood will win but I think it’s going to be closer than we think.

What do you think?