'Iron Man 3' Global Opening Hits $195M -- Bigger Than 'Avengers'

Michael Bay's bad-boy bodybuilder tale “Pain & Gain” captured the domestic box office this weekend, but “Iron Man 3” showed way more muscle abroad with a staggering $195 million debut.
That's a bigger first overseas weekend than "The Avengers," which debuted to $185 million last summer. "Iron Man 3" was No 1 in all 27 foreign markets in which it rolled out.
The United Kingdom was the weekend’s highest-grossing country for ‘Iron Man 3,” with $21 million. Korea ($19 million), Australia ($18 million) and Mexico ($16 million followed). It opens in China, which should be its biggest foreign territory, on Wednesday.
The momentum from abroad should only help “Iron Man 3,” which opens in the U.S. on Friday.
"Iron Man 2" debuted to $128 million in the U.S. in 2010, and that was before “The Avengers” – in which Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark character played a key role -- shattered domestic box office records with a $207 million first weekend to jump-start last summer. Bullish analysts see a $160 million U.S. opening for “Iron Man 3.”

"Pain & Gain" muscled its way to the top spot in the U.S. with a three-day haul estimated at $20 million. Paramount's darkly comic action film held off last week's No. 1 film, "Oblivion," Universal's Tom Cruise sci-fi epic, which took in $17.4 million in its second week and is about to cross $200 million in worldwide grosses.
The domestic box office was running about 20 percent down from last year, as moviegoers seems to be waiting for "Iron Man 3' and the summer movie season. Besides "Iron Man 3," "The Great Gatsby" (May 10), "Star Trek into Darkness" (May 17)  and "Fast and Furious 6" and "The Hangover Part III" (both May 24) all roll out next month.
This week's only other wide opener, Lionsgate's star-packed farce "The Big Wedding," managed just $7.5 million, below expectations that were soft to begin with. Robert De Niro, Diane Keaton, Katherine Heigl, Amanda Seyfried, Robin Williams, Topher Grace and Susan Sarandon star in the R-rated farce, directed by Justin Zackman ("The Bucket List").