Take Two Interactive’s Grand Theft Auto 4 posted the biggest launch in entertainment history last week earning over half a billion dollars in its first week on sale.  GTA 4 earned an amazing $310 million during its first 24 hours of release.  GTA 4 easily outdistanced the previous video game record holder Halo 3, which earned over $300 million during its first week of release (see “Halo 3 Snags Over $300 Million”), and also overshadowed the movie Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, which took in some $404 million worldwide during its week of release.

So does this gargantuan videogame debut mean that all pop culture retailers who don’t deal in electronic games should just hang it up? Not really, since Marvel Studio’s Iron Man managed its spectacular debut during the same time period that GTA 4 was setting records.  Given that the demographic for GTA players and Iron Man moviegoers is pretty similar, it is apparent that a lot of videogame enthusiasts got off the couch and made their way to the movie theaters—and to their neighborhood comic book stores for Free Comic Book Day as well.