Freddy Krueger and ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’ scare up $32.2 million

Freddy Krueger found a new generation of moviegoers to frighten this weekend, but Hollywood’s big money came from Iron Man’s blastoff overseas.

In the U.S. and Canada, the reboot of “A Nightmare on Elm Street’ opened to a solid studio-estimated $32.2 million, while the Brendan Fraser environmental comedy “Furry Vengeance” proved about as popular as smog, with a $6.5-million debut.

Meanwhile, summer’s first event film, “Iron Man 2,” opened in 53 foreign markets and took in $100.2 million. That’s just $5 million short of what every movie playing in the U.S. and Canada collected this weekend.

Although it’s usually foreigners who have to wait for big Hollywood movies, distributor Paramount Pictures decided to start “Iron Man 2” early internationally to get ahead of June’s World Cup mania and take advantage of the May Day holiday overseas. In the U.S., meanwhile, Paramount held the movie until this Friday to make sure it will still be playing over the lucrative Memorial Day weekend.

“We felt like the sequel had enough momentum that international could take the lead this time,” said Paramount Vice Chairman Rob Moore. “I think our $100-milion opening showed that was the case.”

“Iron Man 2” grossed 26% more than the original “Iron Man” on its opening weekend in the same foreign markets two years ago, according to Paramount.

Though impressive, the foreign opening of “Iron Man 2” still ranks behind the mega-successes of the recent “Harry Potter” pictures, and “Spider-Man 3,” which remains the biggest overseas launch ever.

Top-grossing foreign markets for “Iron Man 2” were, in order, Great Britain, South Korea, Australia, France, Russia and Mexico.

Several recent hit event films, including “Avatar,” “Alice in Wonderland” and “Clash of the Titans,” have grossed substantially more overseas than domestically, and it remains to be seen whether “Iron Man 2” will follow that pattern or, like the original, do better at home.

Pre-release surveys indicate “Iron Man 2” could open around $150 million and might even have a chance at surpassing the all-time biggest opening weekend: $158.4 million for “The Dark Knight” in 2008.

Based on foreign receipts alone, “Iron Man 2” is already in strong financial shape. The biggest beneficiary will be Marvel Entertainment, which financed the movie for about $170 million, and its new parent company, Walt Disney Co. Paramount receives 8% of theatrical revenue for its distribution and marketing services.

“A Nightmare on Elm Street,” meanwhile, likely marks the start of a new string of sequels for the 26-year-old horror series from Warner Bros. label New Line Cinema, which last year relaunched another horror classic, “Friday the 13th,” to an even bigger $40.6 million.

The only crimp in the healthy start for the remake, which stars Jackie Earle Haley, is its sizable 33% fall in ticket sales from Friday to Saturday. That’s a sign that the new “Nightmare” doesn’t have a big audience beyond those who turned out early and that it will likely disappear quickly from theaters in the coming weeks.

“We had a specific group of anxious fanboys who wanted to see this movie on Friday,” said Dan Fellman, Warner’s distribution president.

Still, the movie will end up a success for New Line, which spent about $35 million on production, even if ticket sales freefall in the coming weeks and it ends up grossing less than double its opening.

“Furry Vengeance,” pilloried by critics, is almost certain to be a money loser. Distributor Summit Entertainment and co-financiers Participant Media, which focuses on socially relevant films, and Imagenation Abu Dhabi spent about $35 million to make the family comedy, though they limited their downside somewhat through foreign pre-sales.

ben.fritz@latimes.com