Monday, May 05, 2008

I Am Dreaming of $$$uperheroes

Hours after leaving West Mall in a slow saunter, RDJ’s broody eyes still haunt me.

Iron Man had me thinking whether I should put some money in Marvel, after it grossed $20 from me and my partner and a further $32.5 million in its first day of screening on Thursday in the U.S., set to exceed the $85 million projected for its opening weekend. Boxoffice Mojo estimates that the movie has grossed $100 million already.

Recovering that $150 million production cost and $75 million marketing cost seems not such a big feat for Iron Man. RDJ has that power. He had me glued to the seat watching him build his armor and hanging on to every word he said, even if he was only talking to his computers.

Iron Man has replaced Spiderman as my favorite Superhero. I didn’t think that could happen. But, it did. Maybe I should also do the unimaginable, put aside my discomfort that almost half of Marvel’s assets are in intangible good will and without it, its book value is in the negative zone. Maybe I should give more credits to its ability to return its shareholders more than 60 percent even before it embarked on building its movie franchise.

Marvel’s future prospect is indeed shaping up nicely. The strong opening of its first self-financed movie and cash in its sack from unused portions of Merrill Lynch’s $525 million credit facility taken in 2005, promise more.

Next in line, The Hulk. Edward Norton (my favorite favorite actor) is the Incredible Hulk., with Liv Tyler as the shrieking, fretting female guarding his sides. Marvel really knows how to please. Wonder who will be Captain America?

Shares up 2.37 percent last Friday.