Review: What’s the magic behind Iron Man 3?

Barely a month after its worldwide premiere, the third sequel of the superhero Iron Man franchise , Iron Man 3, has grossed over $1.2 billion in box office alone.  It currently ranks as the fifth highest grossing film of all time. Amazing.  The only movies that rank above it are Titanic, Avatar, The Avengers and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. But how exactly has the movie become such a success?

In economics, filling the demand gap is always a smart way to suck in higher revenue. Over the past few years, major box office hits have been themed around adult sophistication. Apart from action films, very few movies have plots that children understand. This explains why Expendables 2 was box office hit in spite of the heavy criticism it received from movie critics especially due to the weak plot. It had a team of action stars that kids have loved all through the decades. Every kid was dying to see this movie and that’s why it was a commercial success.

In the past decades there were a lot of superhero movies and TV shows. Kids were used to them, then they somehow, the GE movies disappeared and focus was shifted to more sophisticated, adult films. Comic books of superhero characters waned paving way to books such as Human Target. The Hunger grew.  Current generation kids would hear their elder ones brag of how they watched awesome superhero characters in action. The likes of Batman, Superman, Spiderman and Thor.

Marvel Comics somehow realized the untapped market and began producing movies such as Dark Knight, Spiderman and The Incredible Hulk. These movies were well produced and did well in the box office. Then there was Iron Man. Stan Lee, the creator of the Iron Man Character as well as Spiderman, Captain America and Thor claims Iron Man is his most successful creation.  Iron Man comics continue to have massive sales since the first movie.

After the events of Iron Man 1 and 2, Iron Man 3 promised to offer a lot more hence it was well anticipated.  In Avengers, a successful 2012 movie where Iron Man teams up with Thor and Hulk to fight crime, the Iron Man superhero stood out compared to his compatriots in Avengers, according to reviews. This even fuelled the anticipation for Iron Man 3 even further.

The population of children under the age of 14 is large. The good thing about kids is that a good thing goes viral among them. Once one kid claims to have watched Iron Man 3 and it was super cool, all the other kids around them will want to watch it. A good marketing strategy by IMAX, the cinema house licensed to show the movies has also contributed to its success

Kudos to the team behind Iron Man. Let’s watch as the film continues to break even greater box office records. In the next few weeks, it might even surpass Harry Potter and The Avengers