"
Incredible Hulk" smashes box office
Sunday June 15 2:49 PM ET
A bigger, better "Incredible Hulk" crushed the North American weekend box office with a $54.5 million take, according to studio estimates.
Edward Norton as Bruce Banner in Universal Pictures' The Incredible Hulk 2008
The action-oriented film revival starring the hulking green superhero is the second self-financed production from Marvel Studios, which paid General Electric Co's Universal Pictures a fee to market and distribute the film.
Marvel and Universal brought the first "Hulk" to theaters in 2003, but that more introspective film failed to follow through on its muscular debut after disappointing comic book fans.
ADVERTISEMENTThe new film stars Edward Norton as former scientist Bruce Banner, who morphs into the green beast when his attempts at anger management fail. Banner's love interest is played by Liv Tyler, while actors William Hurt and Tim Roth take turns as villains.
Marvel Studios had creative control over "The Incredible Hulk," and the film won positive reviews, but critics did question why Marvel was returning to the green monster so soon.
"It seems like 'Hulk' has smashed those questions to pieces," said David Maisel, chairman of Marvel Entertainment division Marvel Studios.
To remember his many characters’ secret identities, Lee liked to give them alliterative names (e.g. Peter Parker, Reed Richards). He gave The Hulk’s mousy other self the name Dr. Bruce Banner, but he still got confused and for several issues called him “Bob.” When he was alerted to the mistake, Lee decided his full name was Robert Bruce Banner.
Hulk’s size is also not a constant. According to the comic books, 5’ 9 ½” Bruce Banner grows to 7-8’ tall during his transition to the green, or “savage” Hulk. In the 2003 film directed by Ang Lee, the Hulk got progressively bigger as he got angrier, topping out a 15 feet tall. For the new movie, the director kept the Hulk at a steady 9 feet.
Hulk’s amazing abilities aren’t as consistent as one might hope. At various points in the series, he survived a direct hit from a nuclear explosion, getting launched into space by a catapult, and having the entire Andes mountain range dropped on top of him. But in other issues, he was coldcocked by Thor, knocked out by a pygmy and rendered unconscious after being choked by a snake for less than a minute.
Ferrigno cameos in both big screen versions, and in this one he provides the voice of Hulk as well. Creator Stan Lee makes an appearance, as he does in nearly every movie based on one of his comic books (he isn’t in X2).
To create distinct movements for the computer generated Hulk and Abomination characters, the visual effects team brought in former Cirque do Soleil member Terry Notary as a movement coach. He spent two months choreographing the extensive fight scenes. Actors Norton and Roth then had their facial expressions scanned in 3D to give the virtual characters real expressions.