To say that Iron Man 3 is going to make a lot of money this weekend would be stupidly obvious. Not only is the Robert Downey Jr.-led series the most popular in Marvel Studios' stable, the movie is in many ways seen (and rightly so) as a sequel to 2012's The Avengers, one of the biggest blockbusters of all time. The real question is, "How high is the ceiling?" Joss Whedon's film pulled in an Earth-shattering $207 million in its first three days of release - can Iron Man 3 come close?
Looking at Deadline's tracking statistics, the answer is "yes." According to analysts the movie may not beat out The Avengers, but could surpass early estimates, making somewhere between $165 million $180 million. According to the ticketing website Fandango, the Marvel movie makes up 86% of their weekly sales, while MovieTickets says that for them it's 91%. If you really want to see the movie this weekend, I'd recommend getting them now
Excited as the studio may be for the North American release, the film has had extraordinary success in international markets. Disney says that the film has already made $307.7 million abroad, which is more than Captain America, Thor and the first Iron Man movie made internationally in their full runs. It's expected that it will surpass Iron Man 2 in its ninth day of release overseas.
The future is incredibly bright for the folks over at Marvel Studios. We can only imagine what to expect when Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy come around in the coming months.
