'Iron Man 3' $1 Billion Worldwide Sales Surpassed [Trailer VIDEO]
It's official: Iron Man 3 has truly taken the world by storm.
The third edition in the superhero franchise has raked in over $1 billion in worldwide sales, according to The Guardian. Less than four weeks after it hit theaters. the film surpassed the 2008 film The Dark Knight for second on the list of highest grossing comic book movies ever.
However, it's still not eclipsed last year's blockbuster The Avengers. The Joss Whedon-helmed movie, in which Iron Man teamed up with Thor, the Hulk, and Captain America, made it to $1 billion in 19 days, on its way to becoming the third-highest grossing film of all time.
Iron Man 3 took 24 days to reach the $1 billion sales record, but it still looks poised to reach the all-time box office top 10. It currently stands at 16th, overtaking Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End ($963 million), Jurassic Park ($967 million) and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone ($975 million).
The film set new box office opening records in China and currently made over $102 million there, but also courting some controversy in the world's most populous nation. The film was altered in China, with their version highlighting sequences filmed in China and scenes featuring famous Chinese actors like Wang Xueqi and Fan Bingbing.
Disney bought Marvel Pictures in 2009 for a $4 billion price and it already has two global billionaires from Marvel under its belt. Disney has a total of six films that have made over a billion at the worldwide box office. Along with The Avengers and Iron Man 3, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Toy Story 3, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and Alice In Wonderland have all breached that barrier -- and no other movie studio has more than two.
This new mark may be a boon for the film's director Shane Black, as it seems to have been for the other directors in the Avengers universe. Black, who took over for Jon Favreau in this sequel, has been given the go-ahead to make his own long-in-the-works project featuring the 1930s pulp magazine hero Doc Savage.
