‘Iron Man’ boosts Marvel profit 39%

Strong box-office receipts for the film “Iron Man” lifted Marvel Entertainment Inc.’s third-quarter earnings 39%, according to a report Tuesday from the movie, licensing and comic-book publishing company, which also raised its full-year forecast for 2008.

But the story is likely to be different in 2009, when Marvel expects only “modest” performance.

The company said several factors would be at play in 2009. A larger-than-expected portion of “Iron Man” revenue will be realized this year instead of next because it was paid early by the distributor. Marvel won’t be releasing a summer feature in 2009, and it expects “Spider-Man”-related sales to weaken. Executives also worry that licensees may not get financing to manufacture its character-driven merchandise.

Shares of the company gained 57 cents to $31.45 after the earnings release.

Peter Cuneo, Marvel’s vice chairman, said the company had not seen a material impact from the slowing economy.

“When times are tough, people like to escape,” he told analysts in a conference call.

But the global downturn is unprecedented, and “it would be prudent for us to be cautious,” Cuneo said.

For the three months ended Sept. 30, New York-based Marvel earned $50.6 million, or 64 cents a share, compared with $36.3 million, or 45 cents, a year earlier. Revenue grew 48% to $182.5 million -- including about $60 million in earlier-than-expected “Iron Man” revenue.

The results easily beat the average estimates of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, who had forecast a profit of 45 cents a share on revenue of $146.1 million.

“Iron Man,” starring Robert Downey Jr. as the title character, grossed $318.3 million in the U.S., according to Media by Numbers in Encino. The movie ranks among the 25 top-grossing U.S. films of all time.

Marvel produced the movie. It was distributed by Paramount Pictures, which is owned by Sumner Redstone’s media conglomerate Viacom Inc.

Marvel’s film production sales totaled $90.2 million in the third quarter -- including the box-office take for “Iron Man,” fees for serving as a producer for that movie and “The Incredible Hulk” and foreign DVD pre-sales for “Iron Man,” which was released on DVD on Sept. 30.

“Iron Man” and “Hulk” were the first two movies Marvel produced, an arrangement that brings it more revenue than when it licenses movie rights to third-party producers.