After seeing the movie Friday evening I knew it’d do well over the weekend, but I didn’t guess it’d do this well. Projections at BoxOfficeMojo have the 3 1/2 day take for Iron Man to be a little over $104 million. Not too shabby for the first film financed by Marvel (as opposed to a movie like Spiderman that was done by Sony).

I thought the movie was excellent and the casting perfect. Robert Downey Jr. was Tony Stark and when reading any Iron Man comics I’ll be hearing his voice for the character. Terrence Howard as Jim Rhodes and Gwenyth Paltrow as Pepper Potts both had roles much meatier than I expected creating an ensemble feel even though the movie clearly revolved around Robert Downey Jr. and rested on his shoulders.

The plot was also a departure just enough from the comic books that it was updated but still familiar. Weaving in current events like the war in Afghanistan and corporate malfeasance, Iron Man ironically is the first successful movie about the current political climate. Jeff Bridge’s Obadiah Stane could of been ripped directly from the board of Haliburton. Who’d think the head of a corporation would make a decent villain in a comic book movie? It definitely works though with some great twists.

But really the brilliance of this movie is it’s focus on Tony Stark the man and not Tony Stark as Iron Man who doesn’t even show up until close to 50 minutes into the movie. Instead the movie reflects on who Tony Stark is, really the arrogant, jack ass, playboy that you want to hang out with and his transformation after captivity.

There’s just enough extras for the comic geeks to tease for those in the know as to what a sequel might bring. To me the top comic movies (in no particular order) are Batman Begins, Spiderman, and Superman II. Iron Man ranks right up there with these comic classics, and with the announcement of the sequels release in May 2010, I ‘m already in line clutching my ticket.

Oh yeah, stay through the credits…..