It isn’t easy to outshine Iron Man but that’s just what The Great Gatsby has done. Warner Brothers’ 3D adaptation of the classic novel may have come in second this weekend, but it was a much bigger draw than expected – earning an estimated $51.1 million from 3,035 locations. Iron Man 3 was always destined to be the easy winner on its second weekend, but the novelty of Gatsby’s success means that, on this particular May frame, the superhero will have to settle for first place… and second billing.

One week after Iron Man 3 scored the second-highest domestic debut of all-time, the Marvel sequel is still on top. The blockbuster passed the $200 million mark in the US on Thursday and now stands at an incredible $794 million total worldwide.  On its second Friday, Iron Man 3 earned an estimated $19.7 million – down 71% from last week. That was a bit steeper than the 63% drop The Avengers saw on its own second Friday, though not entirely unexpected.

What was unexpected was how close The Great Gatsby came to unseating Iron Man 3 on its first day in theatres. Baz Luhrmann’s lavish, 3D adaptation of the literary classic earned an estimated $19.4 million from 3,035 locations: including $3.25 million from Thursday pm & midnight previews. That puts Gatsby on track for a three-day debut of $52 million – nearly double what box office watchers forecast back when the film was moved from its original December 2012 release date. The good news for Gatsby was disaster for Peeples, the weekend’s second new release. The Tyler Perry-produced project earned an estimated $1.1 million from 2,031 locations towards an opening weekend projection of just $4 million.

We’ll have complete details and the weekend top ten when you check back tomorrow.

Everyone said it would be big and, for once, everyone was right. In its first three days, Iron Man 3 has earned an estimated $175.3 million, making it the second-highest domestic debut of all time behind The Avengers. Worldwide, the Marvel/Disney sequel has earned $504.8 million since its international roll-out began on April 24^th, giving it an enormous global cume  of over $680 million in twelve days.

Here’s a look at the top five US openings of all time, including today’s Iron Man 3 estimate:

Hit the jump for more details, including the weekend’s top ten.

After setting records all around the world with its international roll-out last week, Iron Man 3 has finally arrived in US theatres. The Disney/Marvel sequel took in a reported $68.1 million from its 4,253 locations on Friday, including $15.6 million earned from its Thursday night/midnight screenings. That blows away the $51.2 million debut of Iron Man 2 on this weekend in 2010, though, as expected, it is well short of the $80.8 million earned by 2012’s The Avengers. Overall, Iron Man 3 now claims the second-highest May debut of all time and the eighth best single-day opening overall.

The current projection for IM3’s opening weekend is $169 million – though that number has shifted continuously for the past 24 hours. A couple of million in either direction would not be enough to put the film past The Avengers’ record of $207.4 million, of course – though anything over $169.1 million would replace Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 as the second-highest debut weekend of all time at the domestic box office.  Check back tomorrow for the complete Iron Man 3 breakdown.

With just days to go before the summer movie season blasts off with Iron Man 3, the domestic box office offered up another decidedly ‘meh’ moment. Paramount’s Pain & Gain was on top with a respectable $20 million while the new rom-com The Big Wedding badly underperformed. The real excitement came on the global market, where Iron Man 3 broke records with its international launch.

It’s been a long, cold, boring winter at the box office but here comes the sun! In just six days, the summer movie season will start with the release of Iron Man 3. As of Friday, the Marvel sequel had earned a reported $36.7 million from twelve international territories and should be well past $100 million by Monday. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Here in the US, we still have another week of mediocre numbers to wade through.

Taking pride of place on the first day of the pre-summer frame was Pain & Gain. From 3,277 locations on Friday, the Michael Bay feature earned an estimated $7.5 million towards what looks like a $20 million debut weekend. Of course that’s nowhere near what Bay realized with the Transformers franchise but, for this “low-budget” action comedy, it’s as good as Hollywood expected. The same cannot be said for The Big Wedding. The star-stuffed rom-com earned an estimated $2.5 million from 2,633 locations on Friday and should fall well under its weekend target of just $10 million. We’ll have full details tomorrow.

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It was the only game in town, so Oblivion’s first place finish this weekend didn’t come as a shock. Universal’s sci-fi release had a solid debut – earning an estimated $38.1 million from 3,783 locations, or just under what G.I. Joe: Retaliation managed three weeks back. Oblivion also topped its initial domestic projection of $35 million, though the real strength of the Tom Cruise vehicle is overseas.

As the only new release of the week, it should be no surprise that Oblivion took first place at Friday’s box office. The sci-fi feature, starring Tom Cruise, earned an estimated $13.3 million from 3,783 locations yesterday, though it is unclear if that includes the $1.1 million it made from Thursday and midnight previews. Oblivion is expected to take in $38 million through Sunday. That number is slightly ahead of the film’s pre-release forecasts and would stand as Tom Cruise’s highest opening since Mission: Impossible III, if realized.

The Place Beyond the Pines expanded from 514 to 1,542 theatres on Friday. The Derek Cianfrance drama fell just short of the top five and is on track for a $5 million three-day total.  We’ll have full details and analysis tomorrow.

The Jackie Robinson biopic 42 made history this weekend, scoring the all-time highest domestic opening for a baseball movie. From 3,003 locations, the film earned an estimated $27.2 million, or $7.5 million more than 2006’s Benchwarmers, the former genre title-holder. In second place, Scary Movie 5 earned $15.1 million from 3,402 runs, or just 37% of what Scary Movie 4 took in on this same weekend seven years ago.

42 was the undisputed box office champ on Friday, earning an estimated $9.1 million from 3,003 locations. That puts the Jackie Robinson biopic on track for as much as $28 million through Sunday – a record opening for a baseball movie. From a box office perspective, America’s pastime has never been a huge draw. Benchwarmers set the genre record in 2006 with its $19.7 million debut and, in 2011, Moneyball was a close second with $19.5 million. 42 – the story of the man who broke baseball’s color barrier in 1947 – was not originally expected to top $20 million. But then positive reviews met a flood of nostalgic news-coverage and the rest, as they say, is history.

The debut of Scary Movie 5 was not-nearly as historic. From its debut in 3,402 locations, Scary Movie 5 earned an estimated $5.5 million. On this same weekend in 2006 Scary Movie 4 took in over $40 million; but after yesterday’s start, the fifth installment in the horror-spoof series won’t scare up half that amount.  We’ll have full details tomorrow.

Evil Dead was the clear box office champ this weekend. The horror remake earned an estimated $26 million from 3,025 locations, or about $5 million more than originally projected. The weekend’s only other ‘new’ release was Jurassic Park 3D. With $18.2 million from 2,771 runs, the converted-classic fell to fourth behind the more-current 3D hit, The Croods.

The April box office is off to a promising start with the launch of Evil Dead. From 3,025 locations, the horror remake earned an estimated $10.1 million on Friday – including $1.8 million from its Thursday 10 pm and midnight screenings. Evil Dead will fall short of recent genre remakes like Friday the 13^th ($40.9 million); but the reboot of the 1983 cult-classic is already running ahead of projections and could realize as much as $28 million through Sunday. Jurassic Park 3D, the latest blockbuster to receive a digital makeover, took in a more modest $7 million from 2,771 locations. Though good enough for Friday’s second spot, the re-release is expected to fall behind G.I. Joe: Retaliation and The Croods on the weekend chart. We’ll have full details tomorrow.

As expected, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, wound up on top this weekend. The action sequel earned an estimated $41.2 million from 3,719 locations, or $51.7 million including its Thursday debut. In terms of Easter openings, that is the second-highest ever, behind the $61.2 million of 2010’s Clash of the Titans. Tyler Perry’s Temptation was also a draw, leaving The Host the only new release to struggle over the 2013 Easter frame.

After opening to an estimated $10.5 million on Thursday (including $2.2 million from Wednesday night previews), G.I Joe: Retaliation was the easy winner at Friday’s box office. The long-delayed sequel to 2009’s G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra earned a reported $15.5 million from 3,719 locations; putting it on track for a first-place weekend finish of $38 million. That would make Retaliation the third-highest Easter debut of all time, behind Clash of the Titans and 2006’s Scary Movie 4.

Opening one day after Retaliation, the weekend’s two additional new titles fell short of holdover hit The Croods. Tyler Perry’s Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor earned an estimated $9.4 million from 2,047 locations towards a projected first-weekend of $22 million: a debut comparable to Perry’s past Easter releases. Playing in fewer theatres, Temptation still crushed The Host. Based on Stephanie Meyer’s 2008 sci-fi novel, The Host earned $5.5 million from 3,202 locations on Friday and is expected to claim less than $15 million through Sunday.  We’ll have full details tomorrow.

For those who overlooked the record-breaking success of The Hunger Games one year ago, it was a great weekend at the US box office. Two of the three new releases exceeded expectations, with Olympus Has Fallen nearly doubling studio projections. Only the Tina Fey comedy Admission stumbled – barely topping what Spring Breakers brought in from half as many locations.