The focus is shifting. Export is becoming more and more important for the entertainment industry. And while the US might be still ahead, more and more countries are developing wealthy consumers who are ready to take over.

We saw it already with movies like ‘10,000 B.C.’ and ‘The Kingdom of Heaven.’ The last made just $47 million domestically, a flop compared to its $130 million budget. But if you take into account the $164 million it made overseas, it didn’t do that bad after all.

We see the same for 2007, looking at the totals for rental dollars from movie theaters, TV fees and VHS/DVD receipts. The US ended with a negative balance of -8%, not able to grow in any way. The international markets however, were up 9%, making up for the loss in the US.

Home video sales in the US took an even worse beating, down 17% from 2006. This, while international sales were up 5%.

If this trend continues, Hollywood has to let go of the US as its main market. Simultaneous releases into their main worldwide territories would have to become a priority. Not just for some movies, like it is now, but for all movies. We already saw how Sony locked up Jeff Blake, who’s responsible for global distribution at Sony. And I wouldn’t expect it to end there. Hollywood is getting ready to become Hollyworld.

I guess Robert Downey Jr. can start training again this Monday, because ‘Iron Man 2′ is pretty much confirmed by now. (for all the latest numbers see Iron Man box office facts and rumors)

‘Iron Man,’ which opened in about 60 territories this week, is expected to make over $100 million this weekend in the US alone. That’s just a couple of million short of the highest non-sequel opening by ‘Spider-man’ in 2002, which made $115 million. Yes Sony, you can be proud too, everybody is happy this weekend. Not even a little game called GTA IV could stop the iron man from exceeding every expectation.

Holding the world in a tight grip, ‘Iron Man’ is expected to exceed the $200 million bar worldwide, which makes it profitable in its first weekend if you don’t consider marketing costs. Not only a remarkable accomplishment for a relatively unknown comic book character, but also for Marvel. It’s their first independently produced picture and they didn’t shy away from taking some bold steps with this one. No studio in their right mind would have taken Robert Downey Jr. for the leading role. And I’m sure the Marvel Entertainment stock will make a little jump ahead of the official weekend numbers this Monday.

Again, you can go here for the Iron Man box office totals.

Ok, so there are a lot of box office numbers floating around for the movie with all the buzz this opening weekend, a little film called ‘Iron Man.’ We already brought you the forecast, predictions, early numbers and overseas estimates, but here is really all we have for the iron man thus far.

Budget estimate: $186 million
Marketing estimate: $50 million

US theaters this weekend: 4,105
US predictions for the weekend: ranging from $70 to $125 million

US Thursday box office estimate: $5.2 million
US Friday box office estimate: $35 million (incl. $1.7m Thursday night)
US Saturday box office estimate: $38 million
Overseas estimate for the weekend (57 territories): $97 million

Worldwide estimate for the weekend: $201 million

Highest gross outside US: Mexico with $4 million (2 days)

Recent Fandango ticket sales for ‘Iron Man’: 81%

Metacritic.com score: 7.8 (35 reviews)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 94% fresh
IMDB score: 8.3 (3,102 votes)

Broken legs during shooting: 1 (Gwyneth Paltrow)

Loser this weekend: ‘Made of Honor’ (kinda, only $15.5m)

Almost confirmed release date for ‘Iron Man 2′: summer 2010

If I missed anything, let me know.