Big Opening for ‘Iron Man 3’ in China

LOS ANGELESâ€" “Iron Man 3” has reasserted Hollywood’s place in China, at least for the moment. Hollywood.com, citing a report from China, said the first day’s take on Wednesday for Marvel Entertainment’s action film was almost $21 million, beating the previous one-day record set by “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” in 2011.

For much of the last year, domestic Chinese films have been overshadowing those from American studios in China, and some observers had speculated that “So Young,” a Chinese romance, might challenge American-made blockbusters for primacy with moviegoers in a head-to-head showdown. In the end, Chinese officials did some last-minute juggling of dates that kept the films from opening in direct competition. “So Young” opened earlier, and did well, with an opening-weekend take of about $22 million at the box-office.

But “Iron Man 3,” which has been heavily promoted and includes scenes shot especially for the Chinese market, is poised to do much bigger business, with well over $300 million in worldwide ticket sales before its opening in the United States on Friday.