For the latest numbers: Iron Man box office facts and rumors.

It’s been just a couple of hours or let’s say a small day, but our friend Steve Mason already has the first numbers on ‘Iron Man.’ And the superhero is getting ready to rise into the sky. The first movie theaters started playing ‘Iron Man’ at 8pm yesterday, with a total of about 2,500 locations. Two of the biggest cinemas (Regal Cinemas and AMC) generated a total of $2.5 million in ticket sales in the first hours.

This might not exceed ‘Spider-man’ or ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ from last year, but both were sequels, which always tend to do better numbers in their opening weekend. ‘Iron Man’ is not expected to do much less, with predictions ranging from $5 to $8 million for Thursday alone. And that’s without big marketing efforts. Needless to say, with the total for Thursday coming in Sunday, ‘Iron Man’ is off to the expected good start. Tracking for a $100 million weekend, having a head start on the other blockbusters this summer is certainly paying off.

We’ll keep you updated when new ‘Iron Man’ numbers come in.

Famous for his work on ‘Spider-man,’ ‘X-men,’ ‘Iron Man’ and other well known characters, 85-year-old Stan Lee made a deal with Virgin Comics to create 10 new comic heroes. Sure to bring some of them to the silver screen, they will first be introduced in 10 graphic novels next year.

“Stan Lee is unquestionably one of history’s greatest storytellers,” the Virgin Comics’ creative officer told Variety. “To collaborate with him, and have him guide and nurture artists and writers through Virgin Comics, will be one of the legacies of this company.”

Some potentially good material for a couple of movies. With ‘The Dark Knight,’ ‘The Incredible Hulk,’ and ‘Iron Man’ opening this summer, together with a bunch of other big budget movies, I wonder if they’ll all be profitable.

Before Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and Harrison Ford will make some money on the new ‘Indiana Jones,’ the studio has to cover its $400 million in expenses the LA Times says. In recent years, more and more bigwigs have opted for a percentage of the earnings, instead of taking an upfront fee.

Paramount Pictures will have to make $400 million to cover its production and distribution fees. After that Spielberg, Lucas and Harrison will start making 87.5% of every dollar made, while Paramount will get 12.5%. Similar deals were made with Jerry Bruckheimer, Johnny Depp and Nicolas Cage on ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ and ‘National Treasure.’

Of course, we fully expect the new ‘Indiana Jones’ to make more than $400 million. These guys aren’t stupid. They will make 87.5% after that, $1 million per every $1.15 million. One of the main reasons they can do this is because Lucas owns the rights to these properties, while other movies like ‘Spider-man’ are fully owned by the studios.