This week was ruled by eccentric rich guys, both of whom are tortured on the inside despite putting up facades to pretend everything’s okay. But despite one of those rich guys over-performing, he still couldn’t match up to the sophomore frame of the year. In the end, Tony Stark still crushed all challengers.

Iron Man 3

On top for a second week, Iron Man 3 dropped a not bad 58%. Despite opening much higher, that percentage drop is actually a bit better than Iron Man 2, though it wasn’t as good as The Avengers, which only dropped 50%. Still, Tony Stark still piled on an additional $72.5 million, which is good for the fourth biggest second weekend of all time. That brings its total to a huge $285 million. That’s well off the 10 day totals of $500 million plus grossers The Dark Knight and The Avengers, but it’s about even with The Dark Knight Rises. Based on its current trajectory, Iron Man 3 should end up somewhere around $440 million.

The Great Gatsby swooped into the 21st century and took us all by surprise. Most estimates pegged this one somewhere in the $30 million range, while I low-balled it with a $25 million prediction. Well, Jay Gatsby had a few things to say about that. Thanks to a great cast and a fantastic marketing campaign, The Great Gatsby opened to a huge $51 million.Once again, I think many of us fell into the trap of underestimating the passion of female movie-goers. When something tickles their fancy, they will turn out in droves. Just look at movies like Magic Mike, which opened to nearly 40 million last summer. Or, you know, the whole Twilight Franchise. Anyway, I do think Gatsby will be somewhat front-loaded, but even still, it’s already a success.

Third place goes to Pain and Gain, which dropped 33% to an even $5 million. $41.6 million against a $26 million budget isn’t too bad. Bombing in fourth place is Tyler Perry Presents Peeples. Does this herald the end of Tyler Perry’s successful films or is it just an outlier? Whatever the cause, this utter failure will probably cause Perry to resurrect Madea. Anyway, Peeples made an awful $4.85 million and should be forgotten pretty quickly.

42 eased 23% to $4.65 million. With $84.7 million in the bank, it’s still looking to end just a bit shy of $100 million. Oblivion dropped 31% and pulled in $3.9 million. With $81.7 million in the bank, a final total around $90 million seems likely. Dipping just 14%, The Croods grossed $3.6 million. Now in the top ten for 8 whole weeks, its total gross stands at $173.2 million.

The Big Wedding fell 36% to $2.5 million for a total of $18.3 million. Mud increased 8% as it added some theatres, pulling in $2.3 million this weekend. And finally, the once great Oz is ready to sail off into the sunset. In tenth place this weekend, it dropped 62% and made just $800,000. Still, its total of $230 million isn’t bad and it helped keep things interesting until Iron Man 3 arrived.

That does it for this weekend, which was definitely stronger than expected, mostly because of The Great Gatsby. Next weekend should continue the recent box office hot streak when Star Trek Into Darkness (apparently there’s no colon in the title) comes to town. Should be interesting. Until we meet again.