Disney's 'Iron Man 3' Earns $1 Billion, Will Top 'The Dark Knight'

Disney's DIS Iron Man 3 was expected to have earned a total of $1 billion this week. As of today -- the start of another big weekend for movies -- the film has officially reached that milestone. According to The Hollywood Reporter, more than $300 million of the film's revenue has come from domestic ticket sales. Iron Man 3 is performing so well that Box Office Mojo has updated its homepage to show where the film stands in the all-time worldwide rankings. It currently comes in at number 16 with just a few million less than Time Warner's TWX The Dark Knight. If the movie ended its run this weekend, it would still be able to top The Dark Knight, as well as the The Hobbit (number 14 with $1.017 billion) and Disney's own Alice in Wonderland (number 13 with $1.024 billion). At the rate Iron Man 3 is going, it could very well top Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (which earned $1.027 billion worldwide) by the end of Sunday. With so many moviegoers pouring into theaters, Iron Man 3 could feasibly maintain its place atop the domestic box office. After a two-week run at the top, however, the film is likely to relinquish its lead to Viacom's VIA Star Trek Into Darkness, which opens this weekend. Star Trek Into Darkness comes from Star Wars: Episode VII director JJ Abrams, who is expected to deliver a billion-dollar film to Disney in 2015. The next Star Trek is unlikely to perform as well, however. Its predecessor earned just $385.6 million at the box office. More than 66 percent of those earnings came from domestic moviegoers, indicating that the franchise may have limited worldwide growth. That said, Star Trek Into Darkness is expected to earn $112 million domestically this weekend. Louis Bedigian is the Senior Tech Analyst and Features Writer of Benzinga. You can reach him at 248-636-1322 or louis(at)benzingapro(dot)com. Follow him @LouisBedigianBZ