IRON MAN 3 Powers Weekend Box Office Pass US$4m!

29 Apr 2013

SINGAPORE - IRON MAN 3 opened on 99 screens (including 3D and IMAX 3D) and set a new record for the highest one-day box office gross with US$1.38m (S$1.7m) on its opening day. By the end of its first weekend, the film had grossed a total of US$3,761,476. That's more than what THE AVENGERS managed over its opening weekend (US$3,441,766) on a higher 124 screen count.  

A clearer picture between the two films may only be formed next week as THE AVENGERS had already grossed a higher US$5,766,054 by the end of its first weekend with an earlier opening on the Labour Day holiday which fell on a Tuesday. IRON MAN 3 opened on a Friday with evening sneaks on Thursday with the Labour Day holiday falling on an approaching Wednesday.

THE AVENGERS ended up as the all-time box office champion with a US$11,172,253 tally. How IRON MAN 3 will actually fare will be clearer in the coming weeks. Regardless, a finish between US$7.3m-US$8.2m seems almost assured - this will give it a strong shot at becoming 2013's top film and a spot in the Top 5 of all-time.
IRON MAN 3 also opened bigger than both its predecessors IRON MAN (US$1,965,910) and IRON MAN 2 (US$1,920,023). It also set a new per screen average record of US$37,995, besting the all time high recently set by AH BOYS TO MEN last November (US$33,321).* Its opening already secured it as this year's third highest grosser to date behind AH BOYS TO MEN 2 (US$6,366,469) and G.I. JOE: RETALIATION (US$4,268,582).

Along with Tony Stark's arrival, a few new releases get thrown to the wolves with none opening on more than 5 screens. Faring best is the Chinese romance comedy FINDING MR. RIGHT starring Tang Wei which managed to secure a decent US$7,255 screen average and a total of US$21,766 from 3 screens.

The R21-rated Korean drama AV IDOL grossed US$15,412 from 3 screens for a decent US$5,137 screen average, while the Tina Fey comedy ADMISSION fell flat with US$16,872 from 5 screens and a poor US$3,374 screen average.

Also released but unranked is the Academy and BAFTA award-winning documentary SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN on a single screen at FilmGarde.

With IRON MAN 3's arrival, all previous releases drop drastically with last week's no.1 film OBLIVION tumbling 86.7% to the no. 2 spot. The Tom Cruise sci-fi hit has grossed US$2,151,879 to date and a US$2.2m-US$2.4m finish looks likely - lower than the initial projection of US$2.8m.

JUDGMENT DAY - the 9th domestic release of the year has grossed US$212,430 to date and may now finish with around US$270k instead of the US$380k projected last week.

Overall, IRON MAN 3 powered the total box office past US$4m for only the second time ever * - the last time was back during the weekend of 2 June 2011 when the top 3 films X-MEN: FIRST CLASS, KUNG FU PANDA 2 and THE HANGOVER PART II helped pushed the box office to an all-time high of US$4,236,701 - a record that has yet to be broken.  

This weekend, a total of US$4,090,461 was collected, of which 91.96% was for sales for IRON MAN 3. This is a 168.7% jump from the last weekend and a 242.65% jump from the same frame a year ago when BATTLESHIP spent a 3rd week at the no. 1 spot.

Source: Box Office Mojo

* according to available data published by Box Office Mojo since 2007