Iron Man 3 debuts with second largest North American weekend ever

After last years' The Avengers, a lot of people thought that Marvel had figured out the formula. Release a few movies featuring their most popular characters (the ones they still held the film rights to), and bring them together every couple of years in a team-up movie. The stand-alone films would bring in a good return and the team-up movie would reap the profits. After Avengers opened to $207 million last year, everybody thought they had found the ceiling. And while Iron Man 3 didn't break the record, it proved there is still momentum to be found in the Marvel properties.

Iron Man 3 opened to $175 million in its first three days, topped only by The Avengers. The real story is when you combine this weekend's take with the international grosses, Iron Man 3 has already surpassed the total box office for both Iron Man and Iron Man 2 with $680 million in the bank. A billion dollars seems like an obtainable goal.

The Avengers is not just a money maker for Marvel/Disney, it has significantly impacted the grosses of the solo character films. Obviously Iron Man has been the most popular of Marvel's heroes on screen. I'm not thinking that Thor: The Dark World or Captain America: The Winter Soldier will open to $100+ million openings. But it's not crazy to think that you could see the second Thor and Captain America films doing exponentially better business. Right now, it's just one film that has seen the benefit of what I'm referring to as "The Avengers Bump" which will see the real test this October.

Iron Man 3 was a giant, cash sucking vacuum leaving very little room for anything else. Pain & Gain managed a second place finish with $7 million dropping over 60% from week to week meaning even the low budget Michael Bay affair could still be something of a box office dud.

The baseball biopic 42 took third place with $6 million, while Oblivion could only manage $5 million in its third week. With all the competition coming this month, Oblivion might not be able to stick around long enough to cross the $100 million mark.

Next weekend brings North American audiences Baz Luhrmann's garish looking The Great Gatsby. While there's some interest in the film, I'm guessing it's going to have to settle for number two behind Iron Man 3's second weekend. See you next week.

Here's your top films for North America...

1. Iron Man 3
Weekend Estimate: $175 million

2. Pain & Gain
Weekend Estimate: $7 million; $33 million total

3. 42
Weekend Estimate: $6 million; $78 million total

4. Oblivion
Weekend Estimate: $5 million; $75 million total

5. The Croods
Weekend Estimate: $4 million; $168 million total

Anghus Houvouras