Gatsby basks in box office glory

Leonardo DiCaprio inTthe Great Gatsby. PIcture: AP/Warner Brothers Source: AP

Leonardo DiCaprio with Carey Mulligan in Baz Lurhmann's The Great Gatsby. Source: Supplied

GATSBY looks almost as great as a superhero at the US weekend box office.

Leonard DiCaprio's The Great Gatsby partied like it was the Roaring Twenties with a $US51.1 million ($A51 million) debut that made it a surprisingly strong runner-up to comic-book blockbuster Iron Man 3.

Studio estimates on Sunday put Gatsby at No. 2 behind Robert Downey Jr.'s superhero sequel, which pulled in $72.5 million in the US domestic market to raise its total to $284.9 million after just 10 days in US theatres.

With an additional $89.3 million in its third weekend outside of America, Iron Man 3 lifted its international total to $664.1 million and its worldwide haul to $949 million.

The Great Gatsby far exceeded industry expectations, which had pegged its opening weekend as low as $30 million.

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