Michael Bay’s "R" rated black comedy Pain & Gain topped the box office with a middling $20 million total to lead a weak session that was down a substantial 19.5% from a less-than-stellar frame a year ago when Think Like a Man led the box office for the second straight weekend.  But overseas things were hopping as Iron Man 3 posted a stellar debut earning $195.3 million in 42 territories, a better total than The Avengers was able to post last year. Even with the movie yet to open in China, IM3’s huge grosses in Hong Kong, Taiwan, The Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore indicate that Marvel’s effort to fashion a film that appeals to the increasingly important Asian market appears to be working.

Iron Man 3’s overseas debut dwarfs Iron Man 2’s $100 million extra-territorial bow in 2010.  Like IM3, Iron Man 2 opened in major overseas territories a week before it bowed in the U.S.  IM3 posted the biggest opening weekend totals ever in Argentina, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Vietnam, Taiwan, The Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore.  The Shane Black-helmed Iron Man 3 also broke records in the 113 overseas IMAX venues where it earned $7.2 million with a superb per-screen average of $64,000, which was the highest yet for any Marvel film including The Avengers.

Pain & Gain, which was produced for just $26 million, is going to be profitable, but the audience, which was 51% male and 63% over 25, gave the movie a dismal "C+" CinemaScore, a pretty certain indicator of bad word of mouth.

While Pain & Gain will likely suffer a major fall-off next week, the star-studded romantic comedy, The Big Wedding was DOA as it opened in fourth place with just $7.5 million.  The "R" rated comedy direct by Justin Zackam drew a heavily female audience (77%) that was definitely older (66% over 30), but they found these nuptials distasteful, awarding the film a deadly "C+" CinemaScore.  Lionsgate was hoping to position The Big Wedding as an alternative to the male-skewing blockbusters, but so far the film’s prospects appear dim.

Last week’s winner, the science fiction film Oblivion starring Tom Cruise slipped a relatively modest (for a heavily-promoted blockbuster) 52.5%.  So far the $120 million film has earned $64.3 million, but with IM3 opening next week, Oblivion is no lock to make the $100 million mark domestically (it has already made $134 million overseas).

The Jackie Robinson biopic 42 took third place in its third weekend as it earned $10.7 million to bring its total to $69.1 million.  Dreamworks animated feature The Croods remained in the top ten in its sixth week of release as it landed at #5, while G.I. Joe: Retaliation slipped to #6 in its fifth week of release.

Check back next week to see exactly how massive Iron Man 3’s domestic opening is going to be and if any of the other studios’ counter-programming strategies are going to work.