Iron Man 3: Overseas Box Office Percentage Highest Among Top Superhero Movies

As Comicbook.com reported this weekend, Iron Man 3 is now one of the five highest grossing movies of all time worldwide. Iron Man 3 ranks above all other solo superhero movies, and the film is second only to The Avengers when it comes to comic book movies. How did Iron Man 3 rise so high so fast? Well, for one thing, Iron Man 3 has certainly benefited from following The Avengers, as most have noted that the film played like a sequel to The Avengers rather than the third Iron Man movie. However, a top-notch international marketing campaign by Disney seems to have played a big role as well. As part of the promotional effort behind Iron Man 3, Robert Downey Jr. toured the world, making highly publicized visits to various key cities. All this focus on worldwide marketing appears to have paid off, as Iron Man 3 actually owes a higher percentage of its total box office take to the overseas box office than any other  major superhero movie. Percentage-wise, 67.5% of Iron Man 3's total box office has come from overseas. By comparison here are the percentages for the three other comic book movies to gross over one billion dollars at the worldwide box office: 58.8% of The Avengers box office came from overseas, 58.7% of The Dark Knight Rises box office came from overseas, and 46.8% of The Dark Knight box office came from overseas. As far as total dollars at the overseas box office, Iron Man 3 ranks as second for superhero movies, only behind The Avengers. Iron Man 3 has made $774 million at the overseas box office, while The Avengers made $888 million at the overseas box office. However, since Iron Man 3 is still in theaters that gap will close considerable. To put it in perspective, Iron Man 3 trails the Avengers by $251 million at the U.S. box office, but only trails the Avengers by $114 million at the overseas box office.