Spidey holds nation in his web, makes history

POSTED: 4:11 p.m. EDT, May 6, 2007

Story Highlights

• "Spider Man 3" breaks opening-day record with $55.8 million
• Sony Pictures V.P. calls director Sam Raimi "a genius."
• "Waitress," written and directed by Adrienne Shelly, opens well
• Shelley was murdered in her Manhattan apartment last fall



LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Spider-Man caught just about everyone in his web. The superhero's latest adventure, "Spider-Man 3," smashed box-office records with $148 million in its first three days, according to studio estimates Sunday.

That put it ahead of the previous record debut of $135.6 million set last summer by "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest."

With $59.3 million on opening day Friday, Sony's "Spider-Man 3" broke the single-day box-office record, also held by "Dead Man's Chest" with $55.8 million in its first day.

Since it began rolling out overseas on Tuesday, "Spider-Man 3" has taken in $227 million in foreign markets, bringing the film's worldwide total to $375 million. In just days, the movie has grossed $117 million more than its whopping $258 million production budget.

In just two days, it also nearly matched the $114.8 million opening weekend of 2002's "Spider-Man," which had held the debut record until "Dead Man's Chest" opened.

"Spider-Man 3" reunites director Sam Raimi, who also made the previous two installments, and stars Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst.

"Sam Raimi is a genius," said Amy Pascal, Sony Pictures co-chairman. "I could have never envisioned this. What I was hoping was we would just break the 'Spider-Man 1' record. This is beyond my wildest dream."

The overall box office soared from "Spider-Man 3," with the top-12 movies taking in $176.6 million, up 77 percent from the same weekend a year ago, when "Mission: Impossible III" opened with $47.7 million.

"Spider-Man 3" outdid that movie by $100 million and grossed more in each of its first two days than "Mission: Impossible III" did over the full weekend.

Also among the records smashed by "Spider-Man 3" was a $4.8 million domestic gross at huge-screen IMAX theaters, topping the previous best of $3.6 million set by "300" in March.

Playing in a record 4,252 locations domestically, "Spider-Man 3" averaged a whopping $34,807 a theater.

Domestically, "Spider-Man 3" could enter its second weekend Friday with $200 million already in the bank. The film has the market largely to itself for the next week and a half, with no major competition arriving until DreamWorks Animation's "Shrek the Third" arrives May 18.

With "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" and an onslaught of other potential blockbusters following, studio executives predict this could be a record summer for modern Hollywood.

"Spider-Man 3" packed in enormous crowds that were captive audiences viewing trailers for those upcoming flicks.

"If you could imagine the best kickoff to what could be the biggest summer of all time, this is the scenario," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers. "This will have a ripple effect on audiences exposed to the marketing for all the other summer films."

The gap between "Spider-Man 3" and the No. 2 movie _ DreamWorks and Paramount's "Disturbia" at $5.7 million -- was larger than any other movie's debut. "Disturbia," which had been No. 1 for three-straight weekends, raised its total to $59.9 million.

The weekend's only other new wide release, the romantic drama "Lucky You" from Warner Bros., bombed with $2.5 million to come in at No. 6.
Directed by Curtis Hanson ("L.A. Confidential"), "Lucky You" stars Drew Barrymore as a budding Las Vegas singer, Eric Bana as skilled gambler and Robert Duvall as his estranged father in a tale set against the World Series of Poker.

Two critically acclaimed films opened well in limited release.
Fox Searchlight's "Waitress," starring Keri Russell as a small-town woman whose flavorful pies are named after the hard knocks in her messy personal life, debuted with $91,470 in four theaters. "Waitress" was written and directed by co-star Adrienne Shelly, who was slain in her Manhattan apartment last fall.

Lionsgate's "Away From Her," the directing debut of actress Sarah Polley, premiered with $56,000 in four theaters. "Away From Her" stars Julie Christie as a woman losing her memory from Alzheimer's and Gordon Pinsent as the devoted husband agonizing over her loss.
Both films expand to more theaters throughout May.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Tobey Maguire plays Spider Man in the film's third installment, which outperformed the previous two on its opening weekend.

Kirsten Dunst plays Mary Jane Watson, Spider Man's girlfriend. The film had a $258 million production budget.

Bryce Dallas Howard plays Gwen Stacy in "Spider Man 3," she is the daughter of film director Ron Howard and a director herself.

I have no idea how their advertising campaign was so affective, but it worked on me just as well as it did on everyone else. Quite honestly, I think the only thing that attracted me to the movie was the trailer... it just laid out what we should expect, and it hit me as being pretty cool.

I'm glad it performed so well. Though most principals connected to the movie said they won't return for another, this may change their minds. There're still a lot of Spider-Man stories to tell, and I'd stick around to watch them as long as they made kick ass movies (and not Spider-Man Forever or Spider-Man & Robin).

They advertised the hell out of this movie, and I'm sure that it is what helped them out so well. Plus, people just wanted to see another Spidey movie.

True, I've been looking forward to this for a while. I'm glad they didn't rush into it, to be honest. I think it was perfect timing. I mean, the wait was long... but if they'd done this movie a year ago, would it have been as good? Nah, I honestly doubt they would've made it this good.

Lawless wrote:

With "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" and an onslaught of other potential blockbusters following, studio executives predict this could be a record summer for modern Hollywood.

With all of the kick ass movies that are set to release between now, and the next couple of months, I have a feeling that they are right. We're going to see record high numbers on a lot of different movies. And I can't wait.

gaboman wrote:

True, I've been looking forward to this for a while. I'm glad they didn't rush into it, to be honest. I think it was perfect timing. I mean, the wait was long... but if they'd done this movie a year ago, would it have been as good? Nah, I honestly doubt they would've made it this good.

I agree with you. You can't rush things that you want to put out that will blow peoples minds away. The special effects, in movies like these, are a huge pull, and people expect the best.

Pirates of the Carribean... you know, I don't know. I'd totally love to see how the whole thing plays out, but I was disappointed with the second one... I'm not really that eager to run out for this one...

It should do big numbers too though.

I wasn't as impressed with PotC 2, but it wasn't that bad. Hell, the special effects we're amazing. But, the story line wasn't what I expected, after the first one. I hope that this final PotC just blows me away.