Image Credit: Disney/Marvel

Tony Stark has done it again! Iron Man 3, Disney’s $200 million superhero sequel, kicked off its North American run with $68.3 million on Friday, and it’s headed for one of the best opening weekends of all time.

Iron Man 3′s opening day (which includes $15.6 million earned at Thursday night shows starting at 9 p.m.) marks the eighth biggest opening day ever at the domestic box office, slightly ahead of The Hunger Games‘ $67.3 million Friday, which yielded a $152.5 million weekend. Thanks to broader audience appeal, Iron Man 3 is expected to hold up slightly better than Hunger Games over the rest of the weekend.

Where will Iron Man 3 finish? Well, if it performs similarly to The Avengers, which earned $80.8 million on Friday and a record-breaking $207.4 million over the full debut weekend, then Iron Man 3 is headed for a $175 million debut, which would beat Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2‘s $169.2 million haul as the second-best domestic start of all time. If it doesn’t manage such a strong internal multiplier, Iron Man 3 may finish with around $160 million — still an incredible start. EW predicted a $172 million opening on Thursday.

One thing is for sure: Iron Man 3, which has already broken records overseas, will easily trounce the domestic opening weekends of its predecessors, Iron Man ($98.6 million) and Iron Man 2 ($128.1 million). Check back tomorrow to see just how marvelous the Marvel film’s debut really was. Here’s hwo the rest of the chart looked:

1. Iron Man 3 – $68.3 million
2. Pain & Gain – $2.3 million
3. 42 – $1.8 million
4. Oblivion – $1.7 million
5. The Big Wedding – $1.2 million

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Read more:
Box office preview: ‘Will ‘Iron Man 3′ reach ‘Avengers’ heights?
‘Iron Man 3′ reaches $307.7 million at international box office
‘Iron Man 3′ EW Review
‘Iron Man 3′ gets a special Chinese makeover
Kevin Feige talks ‘Iron Man 3′ and the future of Marvel

Image Credit: Marvel/Disney

After only eight days of release, Iron Man 3 has already surpassed the $300 million mark at the international box office — and the $200 million Disney/Marvel release is only getting started.

Driven by a $65.6 million Wednesday gross, Iron Man 3‘s international total climbed to $307.7 million. For reference, Iron Man 2 earned a $311.5 million international TOTAL back in 2010, and Iron Man 3 will soar right past that figure today. Though the threequel, which stars Robert Downey Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow, got off to a faster start than The Avengers overseas (Iron Man 3 opened to $198.4 million; The Avengers bowed with $185.1 million), it will be very tough or Iron Man 3 to match that film’s $888.4 million international total. We’ll have to wait and see!

Iron Man 3‘s huge Wednesday at the box office was driven by incredible business in China, where the film earned an estimated $21.5 million yesterday — the best opening day in box office history. Looks like Disney’s plan to court favor with Chinese audiences is already paying off. Here’s the country-by-country breakdown of how the film is doing so far: READ FULL STORY »