
Marvel Studios and Disney's Iron Man 3 has blasted into the stratosphere overseas, opening to $195.3 million from 42 markets to beat last year's global blockbuster The Avengers, which debuted to $185.1 million internationally.
Box office observers agree that Iron Man 3 is playing more like a sequel to last summer's The Avengers -- which featured a myriad of Marvel superheroes, including Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man -- than a follow-up to Iron Man 2, which posted a foreign opening of roughly $100 million in 2010.
Iron Man 3, which has been well received by critics so far, is playing in roughly 80 percent of the foreign marketplace, excluding major markets Russia and China, where DMG Entertainment put up some of the financing.
It saw its biggest gross in the U.K. ($21.5 million), followed by Korea ($19.2 million), Australia ($18.4 million), Mexico ($16.1 million), France ($14.7 million), Brazil ($12.3 million), Italy ($11.2 million), Taiwan ($8.4 million), Philippines ($7.4 million), Japan ($5.4 million), India ($5.2 million), Spain ($5 million), Hong Kong ($4.9 million), Malaysia ($4.6 million) and Indonesia ($4.5 million), among other markets.
The tentpole broke numerous records for 113 IMAX theaters, which took in $7.2 million for a per screen average of $64,000, coming in ahead of any Marvel title, including Avengers.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/iron-man-3-opens-massive-448006
QUESTION: WHEN ROBERT DOWNEY JR IS DONE..WHO ELSE COULD PLAY TONY STARK/IRON MAN?
GO!