Weekend box office: 'Iron Man 3' vs. 'The Great Gatsby'

It's time for the weekly wrap-up of box office results, and I have to say, I'm a bit surprised. Last week, some predicted that The Great Gatsby might not fare too well in its opening weekend. There were some serious concerns. Guess what? Gatsby did just fine. Actually, the Baz Luhrmann take on the classic F. Scott Fitzgerald novel outperformed original estimates.

First, here are the raw numbers: Iron Man 3 managed to hang on to the top spot in its second week of release, taking in an additional $72.5 million. That's not surprising. Iron Man 3 is a solid blockbuster, and the only film I see giving it a serious run for the money is the upcoming Star Trek Into Darkness (which opens on Friday, May 17). All total, the latest film in the wildly successful Iron Man franchise has made more than $950 million worldwide. Yes, you read that correctly: Nearly one billion dollars.

Anyone care to venture a wild guess as to what The Avengers 2 will make at the box office when it comes out in 2015? One billion over opening weekend?

Let's get back to the present day: The Great Gatsby fared extremely well in its debut weekend, taking in just over $51 million. Yes, this is the best opening Luhrmann's ever had, and I'm not at all surprised. Gatsby had amazing buzz (and Leonardo DiCaprio, lest we forget he's a huge box office draw). The first big trailer for the Gatsby came out nearly one year ago. That's a long time to build momentum.

I won't spend a ton of time with the rest of the top 10 weekend box office earners, because quite frankly, when you've got not one, but two huge films earning this much simultaneously, well, no one else even comes close. The action film Pain and Gain was a distant third, earning $5 million. And unfortunately for Tyler Perry, his latest effort, the comedy Peeples, bombed with a mere $4.9 million weekend take. Yawn.

Here's what I'm predicting: The new Star Trek is going to shoot straight to the top next week, followed by Iron Man 3 and then possibly The Great Gatsby holding in third place.

Did you see any movies at the theater over the weekend? If you've seen any of these films, I'd love to hear what you thought!

Photo courtesy of PasteMagazine.com