The Great Gatsby pulled off a dazzling $51 million debut, but couldn’t catch Iron Man 3 which is in its second weekend in U.S. theaters.
Disney’s Marvel sequel rolled up another $72.5 million this weekend, and is approaching $1 billion at the worldwide box office. Last weekend, it posted the second-biggest U.S. office debut ever.
A huge Saturday lifted Iron Man 3 to it repeat win. Great Gatsby and Iron Man 3 both made around $19 million on Friday, but the family-fueled superhero saga took in almost $32 million Saturday, while Gatsby brought in $17.6 million. Still, Baz Luhrmann’s 3D take on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel danced far past analysts’ expectations, which were in the $45 million range