It’s too bad that Tony Stark’s Malibu mansion was blown to smithereens. It was a pretty place. But here’s a bit of good news: With the moolah Iron Man 3 collected this weekend, methinks Tony will be able to build a shiny new crib. In fact, he could probably build a spare—you know, just in case of another helicopter attack.
Iron Man 3 earned a truly (ahem) marvelous $175.3 million domestically this weekend (estimated, of course), winning the box office crown and forcing movie-biz statisticians to work overtime. It was the second-highest opening ever, trailing only fellow Marvel stablemate The Avengers (which opened last year to $207.4 million). So successful was its debut weekend that the Robert Downey Jr. flick is already the second-highest grossing of the year—trailing Oz the Great and Powerful by less than $50 million. Methinks that, this time next week, Iron Man will likely be first.
And as impressive as the titanium trickster has been domestically, it’s arguably doing better overseas. Add in grosses from foreign markets, and Iron Man 3 has already cleared $680.1 million. Take that ARC Reactor to the bank, Jarvis.
Another bit of statistical trivial: Iron Man 3 earned 23 times that of Pain and Gain, its nearest competitor. It’s hardly a surprise that Pain was dumped from its top slot: Mark Wahlberg et al could pump all the iron they wanted and still not match the iron-clad superhero. But the 62% drop the flick saw in its week-over-week gross was still a little startling. Last week’s champ earned just $7.6 million this weekend en route to its second place finish.
The biopic 42 slid into third for the second straight week, collecting $6.2 million along the base path. Oblivion snagged a fourth-place finish and $5.8 million. And The Croods held onto a top five slot for the seventh straight week, grinding its way to $4.2 million.
Expect a steep slide from Iron Man come next week—but even if it experiences a Pain and Gain-level attrition rate, that’d still leave it with about an $80 million weekend, putting it in position to potentially claim a second straight box office crown. Or could The Great Gatsby—another ludicrously wealthy, well-meaning anti-hero—roar past Tony Stark and Co. in his cream-colored Rolls Royce? We’ll know next week.
Final figures update: 1. Iron Man 3: $174.1 million; 2. Pain and Gain, $7.5 million; 3. 42, $6.1 million; 4. Oblivion, $5.6 million; 5. The Croods, $4.2 million.
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