LOS ANGELES — As “Iron Man” smashed its way to $201 million in worldwide box-office sales, Marvel Entertainment raised its profit forecast Monday for the year and promised to release “Iron Man 2” in 2010.
The film was the first that Marvel financed itself and culminated a five-year plan to break from its strategy of licensing its top comic-book heroes to other studios.
“This is clearly a transformative time for Marvel,” said Marvel Studios chairman David Maisel. “It was important for us to get much more control of our destiny and the ability to green-light and make these movies on a predictable basis.”
Marvel shares jumped $2.85, or 9.4 percent, to $33.10 on Monday. The company said first-quarter profit dipped 3 percent to $45.2 million, or 58 cents per share, but Thomson Financial said it beat analysts’ prediction of 43 cents.
Revenue fell 26 percent to $112.6 million from $151.4 million but also beat the estimate of $111.7 million.
