Every once in a while, a juggernaut hits the box office that runs over everything else in theaters, but we've rarely seen anything quite like Marvel Studios' Iron Man 3. That is, unless you count Marvel's The Avengers, which basically did the same thing when it kicked off the summer movie season last year.
Starring Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Rebecca Hall, Jon Favreau and Sir Ben Kingsley, the third installment co-written and directed by Shane Black (the "Lethal Weapon" movies, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang) was off to a good start on Friday when it reported $15.6 million from Thursday previews and midnight screenings. Along with the rest of the Friday, it brought in $68.3 million, which was below many other big blockbusters releases, but then by Sunday, it had bounced back to report an opening weekend estimate of $175.3 million, surpassing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 to score the second-highest opening weekend behind The Avengers
Iron Man 3 continued its international domination as well, essentially doubling its North American opening with another $175.9 million in 54 territories with an international total of $505 million and a global take of $680.1 million in just 12 days of release. 
IMAX theaters couldn't get enough seats to fill the demand as they reportedly sold out nearly every show on all 326 IMAX screens nationwide to surpass The Avengers' IMAX opening with $16.5 million, second only to Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises. It added another $13 million internationally on 267 IMAX screens to bring its global IMAX total to $40.2 million.
Iron Man 3 accounted for nearly 84% of the domestic box office this weekend leaving the rest of the releases fighting over scraps.