Iron Man 3 Blows Away Box Office Rivals
The film makes more than the rest of the US top 10 combined as its worldwide total surges past the $500m mark.
2:25pm Monday 06 May 2013
Iron Man 3 has had the second-biggest opening weekend ever at the North American box office.
The superhero movie starring Robert Downey Jr grossed $175.3m - more than the other nine films in the top 10 combined.
By comparison the second-placed movie, Pain & Gain, earned a paltry $7.6m.
Iron Man 3's massive haul still fell short of The Avengers, however, which made $207.4m when it was released last May.
The film was renamed Marvel Avengers Assemble in the UK and Irish Republic to avoid any confusion with the 1960s British TV series.
The third instalment in the Iron Man franchise has been a huge hit around the world after being released a week earlier in some countries.
With takings of £13.7m, it enjoyed the biggest opening weekend in the UK this year.
Globally it has already brought in over $500m in ticket sales, with industry watchers predicting it will eventually take more than $1bn.
Movie-ticketing website Fandango said 88% of people surveyed decided in part to watch it because of The Avengers.
The plot of Iron Man 3 follows on from The Avengers and contains many references to it.
Disney's Marvel Studios, which is behind both comic book adaptations, looks set to build on its success with new Thor and Captain America movies in the next year.
But any future Iron Man film may have to be made without Downey Jr.
At the London premiere last month, he told Sky News he was not sure if he wanted to be involved.
"Right now the future is uncertain," he said. "But I think it's very important that we end this first Marvel phase in a way that is definitive and has people asking questions."
Another big-budget superhero movie in the offing is the latest in the Superman series, Man Of Steel, which is due out next month.
