Iron Man 3, Gatsby Both Make Low End of Weekend Projections

Both Iron Man 3 and The Great Gatsby took in box office receipts at the low end of their midweek [...]

By Russ Burlingame

Iron Man 3 IMAX poster

Both Iron Man 3 and The Great Gatsby took in box office receipts at the low end of their midweek expectations for the weekend, while Tyler Perry's Peeples bombed entirely in a strong--but not as strong as expected--box office weekend. Iron Man 3 is expected to draw $75 million this weekend, according to Deadline. That's down about 57% over last week's big opening, but still enough to take the top spot at the box office by more than $20 million over the surprisingly strong The Great Gatsby, which made $52 million. It's likely this will be the last $50 million-plus weekend for Iron Man 3, as much of the fan base will turn out for Star Trek Into Darkness next week--but you never want to count Marvel Studios out; The Avengers delivered and delivered last year, dominating the box office even as some other releases that were expected to perform arrived. Early predictions had Iron Man 3 making between $70 million and $87 million, depending on who you asked, and Gatsby expected to draw $50-$60 million. Peeples is expected to make less than $5 million this weekend, about a third of its production budget, which means it's likely to be a loss-leader in theaters (although the "produced by Tyler Perry" tag will help it on video, download and with TV deals).

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