The long-awaited Iron Man 3 finally hit theaters today and is already making a huge splash at the box office. The latest installment in the popular series by Disney’s Marvel Studios and Paramount Pictures has reportedly already earned back the entirety of its approximately $200 million budget, according to a Bloomberg article this afternoon solidifying it as the first blockbuster of the season.

According to Bloomberg, Disney stated in an email statement today that “the movie has generated $361 million in global ticket sales, including $15.6 million from late night screenings at U.S. theaters yesterday.” An impressive feat seeing as how U.S. theaters only started showing the movie today.

Similarly, boxoffice.com chief analyst Phil Contrino predicts Iron Man 3 will take in an additional $16 million over the weekend which would distinguish the popcorn-flick as the biggest box office debut since the last time Robert Downey Jr. donned the iron suit in The Avengers last summer. The Avengers opened with the highest grossing weekend of all-time at $207.4 million, and currently sits at #3 in all-time box office sales in both the U.S. and the world.

The synopsis, according to movie aggregator site IMDB, is described as, “When Tony Stark’s world is torn apart by a formidable terrorist called the Mandarin, he starts an odyssey of rebuilding and retribution.”

If you check out the trailer below you’ll find there’s plenty of eye-catching special effects, a romantic subplot, and familiar costars like Don Cheadle and Gwyneth Paltrow. Interestingly, at the helm is director Shane Black who you might remember as the writer of the Lethal Weapon series instead of John Favreau who directed Iron Man and Iron Man 2. Iron man 3 is black’s third movie as director, the first being Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.

Who out there has already seen Iron Man 3 and who’s going to see it this weekend? Time to play movie critic and let us know what you thought of the blockbuster.