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Bruce Hall: To each their own. I hated reading The Great Gatsby, and it wasn't just because I was in high school. For me, I'm really not sure what astonishes me more, Iron Man 3 surpassing $660 million (just) overseas or an adaptation of a book (almost) everyone was forced to read at gunpoint in high school pulling down $51 million in the same weekend. I'd have to give it to Gatsby because out of the two scenarios, if you'd posed them to me a year ago, I'd have told you the first was unlikely, but the second one was just plain impossible.

Max Braden: Gatsby's initial domestic box office impresses me more than either domestic or foreign box office for Iron Man 3. Gatsby just isn't the type of move that should see an opening over $30 million. A decade ago it probably would have been a holiday season platform release. Not to say that IM3 isn't impressive, of course. I'm surprised it did as well as it did, because it had a strange symbiotic relationship with Avengers; without Iron Man 1 & 2, The Avengers might have just been a $75 million dollar opening movie (domestic). But without The Avengers, Iron Man 3 might have been just a $130 million domestic opener, and would not have seen nearly as much foreign box office. There was still the potential though that IM3 would be seen as a fraction of The Avengers (without the ensemble) and suffer for it, but it has certainly prevailed. IM3 just had the stronger pedigree, so despite its huge numbers, I give the surprise prize to Gatsby.

David Mumpower: When this question was originally posed, I expected that I would get to wait until everyone else had replied. Then, I would cleverly say something about Gatsby being the choice domestically with Iron Man 3 being the clear winner globally. This conversation has become a cautionary tale about the dangers of waiting too long. I have been repeatedly beaten to the punch. You are now ready to grab the pebble from my hand, grasshoppers.

All kidding aside, what several of you have said is the God's honest truth here. Brett's love of "I hate my English Lit teacher for assigning me this garbage" notwithstanding, The Great Gatsby is a book I have never been able to read entirely. It simply does not speak to me. What Baz Luhrmann has accomplished here cannot be overstated. He has taken the driest of subject matter and elevated it into a big screen blockbuster. How often does that happen? The history of Hollywood is littered with ambitious attempts at adapting esoteric literary works that failed miserably. Remember Simon Birch? Great Expectations? Lurhmann just somehow opened The Great Gatsby like a Nicholas Sparks film. Relative to expectations, this is a practical impossibility yet it has happened.

Globally, the story is different, though. A pleasant surprise is a nice story. Numbers matter more. Even allowing for scale, Iron Man 3's pace is almost historic. Avatar earned a billion dollars in 17 days. The Avengers as well as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 required 19 days each. Iron Man 3 is more difficult to compare since Marvel's latest release debuted internationally before domestically. It will surpass the billion barrier after roughly 14 days of North American release but 21 days worldwide. The Great Gatsby is a triumphant box office performer but even the most ardent admirer must acknowledge Iron Man 3 crushes it in a global revenue debate.

Kim Hollis: Brett, like you, I was an English major, so don't take David too seriously there. I was never "forced" to read Gatsby. I read it by choice, and I thought it was terrific. But I'm weird like that. I am still pretty much blown away by what Iron Man 3 has done internationally. It's done about what I expected stateside, and I sort of thought Gatsby had a good shot at breaking out because the studio did a great job targeting the female demographic. But it's still just impossible for me to fathom the numbers Iron Man 3 has pulled in overseas. The box office dynamic is shifting at an astronomical pace.

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