Gatsby was great, but he couldn't dent Iron Man's box-office armor.

Despite a debut $20 million above expectations, Leonardo DiCaprio's The Great Gatsby had to settle for an impressive second place as Iron Man 3 held onto the top spot at the box office for the second straight weekend.

Iron Man 3 collected $72.5 million, according to studio estimates from Hollywood.com. The haul marked a hefty drop from its debut last week of $174.1 million, the second-largest opening on record. But it was plenty enough to hold off Gatsby and bring the $200 million film's domestic haul to $284.9 million.

Gatsby, meanwhile, enjoyed the surprise debut of 2013 with $51.1 million, good for second place. Analysts projected the F. Scott Fitzgerald adaptation would do $30 million. And critics didn't give it much notice: Just 47% of reviewers gave it a thumbs-up, according to Rottentomatoes.com. But 84% of fans liked the film, the site says, upending forecasts.

"The shock of the weekend is that Leonardo DiCaprio's The Great Gatsby almost achieved a box-office upset for the ages," says David Mumpower of Boxofficeprophets.com. "One of those boring novels that no one wanted to read in high-school English almost ended Iron Man 3's" reign over the box office.

Michael Bay's action-comedy Pain & Gain was third with $5 million, followed by Tyler Perry Presents Peeples with $4.9 million. The debut fell well below projections, which hovered around $13 million. The Jackie Robinson drama 42 rounded out the top five with $4.7 million.

Final figures are expected Monday.

Copyright © 2013 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

Who says there's no "I" in team?

Apparently, there's an "R-O-N" in there as well.

Tony Stark broke from his team of Avengers this weekend to propel Iron Man 3 to the second-largest debut in Hollywood history, nabbing $175.3 million, according to studio estimates from box office tracking firm Hollywood.com.

If estimates hold Monday, IM3 will be second only to The Avengers, which opened to $207 million last year.

Analysts say that, in addition to securing its place in the record books, IM3 gave the box office a much-needed shot in the arm to begin the Hollywood summer, which runs from the first weekend in May to the Labor Day weekend and accounts for more than 40% of studios' business for the entire year.

"The terrible run of 2013 releases ended" this weekend, says David Mumpower of Boxofficeprophets.com. "Iron Man 3 behaved like a box-office black hole, mercilessly devouring the other films."

Critics and fans wolfed down the superhero story. About 78% of critics recommended the movie, while 83% of moviegoers liked it, according to pollsters RottenTomatoes.com.

Internationally, the film has been a hit for weeks, and IM3's worldwide haul rose to $680.1 million. IMAX reported a record haul as well, collecting $16.5 million domestically and $13 million internationally.

Ray Subers of Box Office Mojo says that IM3 flourished because moviegoers didn't consider it a continuation of Iron Man 2, the 2010 sequel that did $312 million but was pummeled by critics and fanboys.

The latest film trounced the $128 million debut of Iron Man 2 and should easily surpass its predecessor, which was quickly forgotten by audiences, Subers says.

"With very few exceptions, the third entry in an ongoing franchise winds up grossing less than its predecessor, no matter how well-liked the predecessor was," Subers says. "That probably won't be the case with Iron Man 3, though, because it's being perceived as a follow-up to The Avengers, not to Iron Man 2."

The gargantuan haul left only scraps for holdover films. Michael Bay's action comedy Pain & Gain took second place with $7.6 million, followed by the Jackie Robinson story 42 with $6.2 million.

Tom Cruise's Oblivion was fourth with $5.8 million, while the animated comedy The Croods rounded out the top 5 with $4.2 million.

Copyright © 2013 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

Pain & Gain found more of the latter than former this weekend, coasting to the top of the box office on a weekend that left critics wincing.

Gain, Michael Bay's $25 million film starring Dwayne Johnson and Mark Wahlberg, collected $20 million, according to studio estimates from Hollywood.com.

Despite getting roughed up by critics, the true story of bodybuilders caught in an extortion ring met most analysts' expectations.

According to survey site Rottentomatoes.com, just 47% of reviewers gave the film a thumbs up. More impressive: The film won the weekend easily although only a middling 69% of moviegoers liked it, the amalgam site says.

Still, some analysts say that, considering the big names involved, the movie's debut was simply passable. Tim Briody of Boxofficeprophets.com says that the opening "feels to be less than the sum of its parts." He says the film deserves credit for nearly earning its production costs back in three days. "But it's hard to shake the feeling of money being left on the table."

Tom Cruise's action thriller Oblivion took second place with $17.4 million, followed by the Jackie Robinson drama 42 with $10.7 million.

If Gain thought it found a rough reception from critics, at least it wasn't the comedy starring Robert De Niro and Diane Keaton, The Big Wedding. The film took $7.5 million, short of its already-modest projections. It also earned the distinction of being one of the worst-reviewed films of 2013. Just 6% of critics recommended the film, Rottentomatoes.com says. In a stark disagreement between the public and press, 80% of audiences liked it, giving the $35 million movie a puncher's chance to have the last laugh.

The animated comedy The Croods rounded out the top five with $6.6 million.

Final figures are expected Monday.

Attendance and revenues are down 12% from last year, says Hollywood.com.

Copyright © 2013 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

LAS VEGAS — When Dan Scanlon joined Pixar in 2001, he came on board as the company was putting the finishing touches on the animated tale Monsters, Inc.

The film was just the fourth from the fledgling studio, and the first not directed by chief creative officer John Lasseter.

Still, Scanlon recalls, the studio knew it was onto something special, and he remembers how emotional the cast got as the film neared wrapping: "It was like a family was saying goodbye to each other. And they didn't want to."

Now, Scanlon is in charge of the reunion.

He directs Monsters University, out June 21. The prequel reunites good-natured spook specialists Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal) and James P. "Sulley" Sullivan (John Goodman) and imagines their days as college buds — and rivals.

The movie shoulders its share of expectations heading into a summer that needs to outshine 2012's to get the film industry back on track financially. The box office, down 12% from last year, needs a hit. And The Croods marks the only animated film this year to crack $100 million.

In addition, University marks Pixar's first prequel, and already, forecasters expect it to eclipse the 2001 original, which amassed $290 million domestically and $563 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo.

And then there's the streak. Pixar has made only 13 movies, starting with 1995's Toy Story, and each one has opened at No. 1, a streak no filmmaker wants to break.

Still, Scanlon says, the pressure comes from not wanting to disappoint family. In this case, his professional one.

"Really, the strategy at Pixar is to make the movies we'd like to see, that our families would like to see," he says during a break after University's first screening, for an auditorium full of theater owners at last week's CinemaCon.

"Everybody is a part of making a Pixar movie," he says. "Our first screenings are with employees and their families, and they all give feedback. Those are the people you don't want to disappoint, and the rest falls into place."

Indeed, little has gone astray in Pixar's history. From Toy Story to Finding Nemo to Up, the studio has moved at a glacial pace — one movie per year. But none of the entries has done less than $163 million (1998's A Bug's Life). The 13 movies have taken in $3.3 billion domestically, an average of $251 million per movie.

"We may eventually want to get up to three movies every two years, as opposed to one every year," says Kori Rae, a producer on both Monsters films. "But we're not trying to make a lot more movies. This keeps every movie special and demands we pay attention to the story. Especially something like this, where you want to update the characters but still keep them familiar."

Scanlon and his Pixar colleagues had been discussing a Monsters sequel for years. Crystal recalls attending Goodman's surprise 50th birthday party, where he bumped into Lasseter.

"John said they were bouncing around a few ideas for a sequel, but they just had to find the right story," Crystal recalls. "I said, 'Call me when you do, because I'm in.' "

That was in 2002.

"They are not going to use a story until it's written and rewritten until it's perfect," Crystal says.

In University's case, that story meant taking Mike and Sulley to the days of their wild youth, when they weren't such good friends.

"We wanted to capture those days in college, when you arrive and you think you're all that, and you realize there's a lot of competition on campus," Scanlon says. "We wanted a story everyone could relate to, not just kids."

Scanlon says that while the film takes its heart from the relationship between Mike and Sulley, the narrative concentrates on Mike.

"If there's a message, I think it's that sometimes you have to discover who you really are, instead of what you're expected to be," Scanlon says. "It might be a slightly heavier theme than the first movie, but I think kids are more aware than we sometimes give them credit for."

Pixar has found success with "heavier" subject matter. Last year's Brave was unabashedly influenced by cautionary Eastern European fairy tales. It also collected $244 million and an Oscar statue for best animated picture.

University, too, cloaks its emotional messages — this time in a frat house. Scanlon and crew spent weeks visiting campuses to get a feel for contemporary college life.

Some things, says Scanlon, 36, haven't changed from his college days. The kids still sleep off all-nighters during the day and want for a direction in life.

"It's still the most important time for self-discovery," he says. "To discover what you want to be, figure out how much friends matter. That theme is pretty powerful, in a family movie or any other."

Of course, if it's in a Pixar movie, it needs to look pretty, too. Rae estimates that the first Monsters film featured fewer than 50 monsters. The new movie has more than 300.

"What we can do now with technology is incredible, but you still have to make it consistent with the world people remember," she says.

For the actors, it meant finding the energy they had for the original, and then some.

"I wanted to pitch my voice a little higher, give it just a little more energy," Goodman says. "You're trying to recall that youthful energy you had in school."

For Scanlon, it's about recalling the energy he saw at the wrap party of the first film.

"I think that what makes this special is that the message of the movie is the same message we had making the movie," he says. "It's all about the relationships you create."

Copyright © 2013 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

Despite expectations that the Boston Marathon bombing would cut into moviegoing this weekend, Tom Cruise had no trouble guiding his sci-fi thriller Oblivion to a solid win at the box office.

Oblivion collected $38.2 million, according to studio estimates from the box-office tracking firm Hollywood.com.

The debut met most analysts' predictions, despite speculation that the Friday night standoff with a suspected Boston Marathon bomber would keep moviegoers glued to their television sets and dampen ticket sales, particularly on the East Coast.

"Escapism will always win out over reality," says Tim Briody, an analyst for Boxofficeprophets.com.

Briody says the film acquitted itself well despite a news story that "captured a large amount of attention Friday night. And really, (the manhunt) is the purest example of a real-life movie unfolding before our eyes."

But Oblivion saw no competition from other major newcomers and, according to Rottentomatoes.com, won positive reviews from 59% of critics — enough to secure plenty of blurbs for ads and posters.

About 68% of moviegoers liked the film, the survey site says.

The Jackie Robinson story 42 took second place with $18 million, and The Croods took third with $9.5 million. The animated film — which 20th Century Fox has announced will receive a sequel — became the second-highest-grossing film of 2013 with $154.9 million.

The parody Scary Movie V was fourth with $6.3 million, and G.I. Joe: Retaliation rounded out the top five with $5.6 million.

Final figures are expected Monday.

Hollywood will be hoping for a blistering summer; ticket sales remain 11% behind last year's pace. Attendance is 12% behind 2012, Hollywood.com says.

Copyright © 2013 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

LAS VEGAS — Children and violence was a hot, if uncomfortable, topic during the CinemaCon gathering of theater owners this week.

The National Association of Theater Owners took the film industry to task for producing too many R-rated movies, even though they see less return on investment. And the Motion Picture Association of America is redesigning its ratings box to get parents to read about the sex and violence in the movies that are dominating cineplexes. USA TODAY asked the stars and filmmakers gathered for CinemaCon's celebrity awards night if Hollywood is too violent:

* Justin Lin, director of Fast & Furious 6, out May 24. The film is not yet rated, but the studio intends for a PG-13 rating.

"I'm on the phone, it seems, everyday with the MPAA," Lin says. "So I'm not sure what I should say. But I do think it's good to have this discourse with (the ratings board). We should have more of that, parents included, so they know what their kids are seeing."

* Morgan Freeman, promoting Now You See Me (May 31), rated PG-13.

"I think the R-rating is being misused,'' he says. "Just because certain words are in a film, should that get you an R-rating? If you're a 14-year-old kid, there's nothing you haven't heard. And if he has an X-box, there's nothing he hasn't sen. The ratings aren't always appropriate. I went to see King Kong, the original, when I was 6. Now that should have been an R-rated film. That scared the crap out of me."

* Joseph Gordon-Levitt, director of Don Jon (Oct. 18), not yet rated.

"First of all, I love G, PG, PG-13 movies. One of my favorite movies of all time is Dumbo,'' Gordon-Levitt says. "But I wanted my movie to be rated R. Life is rated R. And if you want to reach that broad audience, capturing real life, that rating is appropriate. Having said that, my mother was involved in everything I read, the movies I saw, the TV shows I watch. In the end, I think parents have to be heavily involved."

* Chris Pine, star of Star Trek Into Darkness (May 13), rated PG-13.

"I find the ratings system can be a little strange,'' he says. "You can have a little bit of sex or nudity, and suddenly you've got an NC-17 rating. But you can show all of this violence and bloodshed, and somehow that's OK. I mean, look at what kids see in Grand Theft Auto (video game). It's a tough issue. But in the end, we all have to be accountable for what we're making on screen."

* Hailee Steinfeld, star of Ender's Game (Nov. 1), not yet rated.

"I'd like to think I've seen everything, but then I'll read something and know I haven't,'' said the 16-year-old. "I still have my parents OK my scripts and probably will until I'm 32. I'm fine with them looking over the script for what's appropriate."

Copyright © 2013 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.