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"Iron Man 3" crossed the $1-billion milestone after 23 days at the global box office, according to distributor Walt Disney Studios.
The 3-D film, directed by Shane Black and starring Robert Downey Jr., cost Disney about $200 million to produce. The third entry in the franchise is already the most successful by far of the trilogy, as "Iron Man 2" ended up with $623.9 million in ticket sales globally in 2010 and the 2008 original took in $585.2 million. (AP /May 20, 2013)
The 3-D re-release of James Cameron's "Titanic" in early 2012 was a worldwide box-office success (though nowhere near the scale of the original 1997 movie's theatrical run), and it performed best in China. The re-release grossed over $100 million, outperforming even the original's take in that country.
However, that record has been trumped by an unlikely local movie.
"Lost in Thailand," a low-budget comedy about two businessmen searching Thailand for their boss, has grossed $160 million since its mid-December debut. That makes it the highest-grossing Chinese film ever and catapults it past "Titanic 3D," which was the biggest foreign film in China in 2012, according to the Associated Press.
REEL CHINA: More from the series
However, "Lost in Thailand" is still not the highest-grossing movie in Chinese history. That distinction still goes to Cameron, whose blockbuster "Avatar" touched a nerve with the Chinese people (and even borrowed some imagery from the Chinese landscape) and grossed $182 million in 2010.
The previous record-holder for biggest Chinese film was "Painted Skin: The Resurrection," which grossed $116.5 million in 2012.
Besides being the biggest grossing Chinese movie ever, "Lost in Thailand" also holds the distinction of being the first Chinese film to cross 1 billion yuan in grosses.
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