MOSCOW – Adding to its list of box office records around the globe, Marvel’s Iron Man 3 eclipsed Russia’s biggest opening day ever, and notched the country’s second-largest opening weekend ever, according to recently released data.
Distributed by Walt Disney Studios Sony Pictures Releasing (WDSSPR), the third installment in the Marvel franchise opened on May 2 and grossed 250 million rubles ($8 million) in Russia and other CIS states, except Ukraine — the best opening day figure to date.
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The movie’s performance over the entire weekend, which coincided with a national holiday in Russia, was also remarkable. It grossed 713 million rubles ($22.9 million), which put it second on the list of all-time opening weekend champions after Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, also a WDSSPR release. Pirates came out on the May holiday two years ago and grossed 749 million rubles ($24.1 million).
The holiday weekend’s second-highest grossing movie in Russia was the local hockey biopic Legenda Nomer 17 (Legend #17), which took in 122 million rubles ($3.9 million) during its third weekend in theaters.
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Iron Man 3’s performance exceeded local analysts’ forecasts. The trade publication Bulleten Kinoprokatchika (Exhibitor’s Bulletin) had forecasted the movie’s opening weekend gross to be 550 million rubles ($17.7 million).
In North America, Robert Downey Jr.‘s Iron Man 3 opened to $175.3 million from 4,253 theaters, the No. 2 debut of all time behind fellow Marvel pic The Avengers ($207.4 million), also starring Downey as Iron Man. As of Sunday, the film’s worldwide haul was a whopping $680.1 million.
