Big box office for "The Last Stand"

In its opening weekend, “X-Men: The Last Stand” was a monster hit - even bigger than expected. The movie took in about $120 million, making it the biggest Memorial Day weekend opening ever.

“Hopefully, people will stop seeing these as comic-book movies,” Marvel Studios chief Avi Arad told USA Today. “You don’t have movies this big if only comic-book readers are turning out.”

I’m not sure I understand his point about the term “comic-book movie.” But obviously, these movies are drawing more people than those who head off to their friendly neighborhood comic-book store every Wednesday.

At any rate, the success of “The Last Stand” raises the bar for “Superman Returns” in June. And unless there’s a big drop-off in following weekends, it should inspire the folks at 20th Century Fox, the studio behind “The Last Stand,” to pursue another X-Men movie other than the planned solo Wolverine film.