'Iron Man 2' makes solid $52M Friday

Jon Favreau's "Iron Man 2" kicked off its North American box office run with a big $52.4 million in ticket sales Friday. That's a big victory over its predecessor "Iron Man," which brought in only $35.2 million on opening day. The one-day gross of the sequel includes $7 million generated via midnight screenings.

"Iron Man 2," which stars Ronert Downey Jr. in the lead role, will probably finish the weekend with a gross of around $120 million. It will not be as high as expected, but it will still be huge nonetheless. The film, also starring Don Cheadle, Sam Rockwell and Mickey Rourke, is now playing at 4,380 locations.

This week's other release, "Babies," only made it to No. 12 Friday, bringing in $380,000. The documentary about the first year in the life of four babies is now playing at 534 locations. Coming in second on the circuit Friday was "A Nightmare on Elm Street," which bagged $3.3 million for a total of $42.6 million.

Meanwhile, "Date Night" finished third, earning $1.6 million. Domestically, the comedy by Shawn Levy has reached a total haul of $77.1 million. Following closely in No. 4 was "How to Train Your Dragon," which collected $1.5 million for a cumulative gross of $195.8 million.

At No. 5, JLO's "The Back-up Plan" picked up $1.4 million for a gross of $26.4 million. "Furry Vengeance" took home $880,000 Friday, lifting its cume to $8.5 million.

Source: Box Office Mojo (www.boxofficemojo.com)