“ROBIN HOOD” CAN’T STEAL FROM “IRON MAN 2”

Robin Hood’s arrows bounced off the armor plate of Iron Man as if they were so much popcorn as the Marvel Comics hero held on to the No. 1 ranking at the box office for the second week in a row. Iron Man 2 earned an estimated $53 million, down 59 percent from its opening weekend — and about what box-office gurus had predicted. Robin Hood opened with just $37.1 million, significantly below forecasts of $40-45 million. With a reported budget of about $225 million, the movie, starring Russell Crowe in the title role and Cate Blanchett as Maid Marion (or “Marion Loxley,” as she’s called in the movie), appeared at first to be the latest big loser for Universal, which has experienced a slew of disappointments and outright disasters over the past year. Then the overseas grosses came in — and they hit the mark — $111.1 million from 57 countries. Coming in third domestically was the romantic drama Letters to Julia, which opened with a poor $13.8 million. The Queen Latifah movie Just Wright followed with $8.5 million. In its eighth week, How to Train Your Dragon slipped just 23 percent to place fifth with around $5.1 million and bring its gross to $207.8 million. A Nightmare on Elm Street, however, plunged 49 percent — typical for a horror movie in its third week — to place sixth.

The top ten films for the weekend, according to studio estimates compiled by Box Office Mojo:
1. Iron Man 2, $53 million; 2. Robin Hood, $37.1 million; 3. Letters to Juliet, $13. 8 million; 4. Just Wright, $8.5 million; 5. How to Train Your Dragon, $5.1 million; 6. A Nightmare on Ellm Street, $4.7 million; 7. Date Night, $4 million; 8. The Back-up Plan, $2.5 million; 9. Furry Vengeance, $2.3 million; 10. Clash of the Titans, $1.3 million.