Marvel Steels Itself for 'Iron Man' Open

Marvel Entertainment (MVL Quote) has a potential blockbuster on its hands with this weekend's release of Iron Man.

While most Wall Street analysts are projecting around a $50 million maximum opening weekend for the film, the buzz around Hollywood is that the numbers could come in higher than $70 million. If that happens, there could be some nice near-term upside for the stock.

Investors buying Marvel today have two upcoming catalysts occurring on the same day, May 5.

Marvel Needs 'Iron Man' to Do Some Heavy Lifting

That is when the opening weekend numbers for Iron Man will be released, and when the company will report earnings. Marvel has beaten analyst estimates for seven of its last eight quarters -- not only beating the mean estimate but the high estimate as well, according to Thomson Financial.

A decent amount of skepticism is hanging around Marvel's stock today. Some analysts and investors are wondering whether the company's growth has peaked, given that the Spider-Man and X-Men characters have already been milked for three movies apiece.

A strong Iron Man showing would help quiet these critics. The movie stars Robert Downey Jr. as the title superhero, along with Gwyneth Paltrow; it is directed by Jon Favreau (Elf, Swingers).

A strong showing also could provide a huge boost to Marvel's earnings. This is the first of 10 movies that Marvel will be financing itself. This creates more risk but also allows for very large profits if the films prove successful. In the past, the company licensed out its characters to movie studios (e.g., to Sony (SNE Quote) with Spider-Man) and lost out on much of the upside. (Sequels to already-released Marvel films, such as Spider-Man and X-Men, will continue to be licensed to outside studios in the future.)