The weekend box office is fairly surprising this week, as most expected Man of Steel to continue its strong hold on the #1 spot, but it’s now been toppled by Monsters University, and World War Z. Both films ended up having very strong opening weekends and knocked Man of Steel down to #3.

Monsters University opened at #1 with $82 million at the domestic box office, and $54 million in foreign markets. A very strong start for Pixar’s latest animated film. It’s had impressive marketing and despite opening during a crowded weekend, it seems families came out in droves to take the kids to see Pixar’s latest work. Check out Hypable’s review of Monsters University.

World War Z, the zombie-flick featuring Brad Pitt has pulled in a fairly strong $66 million domestically despite reportedly having problems in the last few months of production. It doesn’t seem like moviegoers care about the filming hangups as they’ve come out in force to see their favorite leading man. World War Z has a worldwide total of $111 million and a sequel is reportedly already in the works. Check out Hypable’s review for World War Z.

It’s possible that the film gained some potential viewers due to the massive success of the AMC TV show, The Walking Dead. There’s millions of new zombie fans which we have to imagine went to get their zombie-fix during Walking Dead’s break. World War Z may continue to impress at the box office if its word of mouth improves, as that’s exactly how films like these start to bring in numbers that the studio didn’t expect.

Man of Steel made $41 million domestically and $188 million in its foreign markets, which puts the film’s total at $398,306,000 worldwide. While dropping two spots domestically, it certainly remains strong, and while it didn’t help that two competitive genre films spread the moviegoers into three separate ways this weekend, it had a strong foreign market opening. Once the rest of foreign markets get Superman on their screens, we’ll be seeing some even bigger jumps in its worldwide total. Check out Hypable’s review of Man of Steel.

Man of Steel is underperforming slightly though, with a 71% drop from its opening Friday to this Friday, but that’s fairly normal for a film which makes such a splash during its first weekend. For reference, Iron Man 3 also saw a 71% drop during its second Friday in theaters.

The light at the end of the tunnel is that Man of Steel still has quite a few foreign markets to open in, where recent blockbusters are making 70% of their box office numbers. Success in these foreign markets will be vital for those who wish to see Man of Steel’s box office numbers continue to grow.

Iron Man 3 made $803 million dollars at the foreign box office, while it only made $400 million from the domestic box office. While Man of Steel isn’t likely to see those numbers, fans shouldn’t be too worried, Man of Steel’s sequel is most likely already into its early phases and scripts are probably being revised.

This radical change from domestic box office numbers being dominant is remarkable in the film industry, and we imagine foreign markets will continue to be the bread and butter for the foreseeable future for massive blockbusters such as these.

Expect to see more promotion seep out of the U.S. and head overseas to the larger foreign markets such as the U.K., China, and Russia.

Which film did you check out this weekend? Let us know in the comments below.