Weekend Box Office: 'Iron Man 3' has second-biggest US debut in history

Credit: Marvel Studios

Iron Man 3 is already an enormous hit overseas, and now the Marvel Studios film has hit the ground running, stateside.

The blockbuster opened with a staggering $175.3 million, making this the second-biggest debut of all time in the US, second only to last year's The Avengers, which took in $207.4 million. Iron Man 3 is also continuing to do tremendous business overseas, as the film raked in another $175.9m across other markets in its second full week of release, including an impressive $63.5 million haul in China. This brings the film's current worldwide gross to $680.1 million, putting the action blockbuster ahead of animated adventure The Croods ($517m) as 2013's biggest box office success so far this year.

"A year ago, we speculated as to the impact of Avengers, and now we're witnessing it first-hand with the success of Iron Man 3," said studio distribution chief Dave Hollis.

The film hardly had much in the way of competition, but that looks to change in the coming weeks, with high-profile premieres such as The Great Gatsby, Star Trek Into Darkness and Fast & Furious 6. If nothing else, Iron Man 3 has inaugurated the official start of the summer movie season, getting things kicked off in a huge way.

The rest of the Weekend Box Office via Box Office Mojo:

1. Iron Man 3 ($175,300,000)
2. Pain and Gain ($7,600,000)
3. 42 ($6,210,000)
4. Oblivion ($5,797,000)
5. The Croods ($4,225,000)
6. The Big Wedding ($3,875,000)
7. Mud ($2,150,000)
8. Oz the Great and Powerful ($1,822,000)
9. Scary Movie 5 ($1,435,000)
10. The Place Beyond the Pines ($1,298,000)

Via: The Guardian