'Iron Man' beats strong 'Gatsby' in movie box office showdown

Tony Stark's superpowers lifted blockbuster "Iron Man 3" back to the top of movie charts in the United States and Canada, beating out a strong debut over the weekend for lavish Jazz Age drama "The Great Gatsby."

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Coming off a gigantic opening a week earlier, "Iron Man 3" commanded $72.5 million in ticket sales from Friday through Sunday in its second weekend. "Gatsby," starring Leonardo DiCaprio as millionaire Jay Gatsby in the classic F. Scott Fitzgerald tale, earned a strong $51.1 million, according to studio estimates.

 

"Iron Man 3" stars Robert Downey Jr. as Stark, a billionaire businessman with a superhero alter ego. The movie from Walt Disney Co's Marvel Studios opened last weekend with $174.1 million for the second-biggest movie opening of all time.

In distant third place, dark action comedy "Pain & Gain" grossed $5 million. The film stars Mark Wahlberg and Dwayne Johnson as bodybuilders-turned-criminals who kidnap a wealthy deli owner.

Warner Bros., a unit of Time Warner Inc, distributed "The Great Gatsby." "Pain & Gain" was released by Paramount Pictures, a unit of Viacom Inc.

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