Spider-Man hurtles past $100M in three days, breaking box of

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May 5, 2002


Spider-Man hurtles past $100M in three days, breaking box office records


DAVID GERMAIN
Canadian Press


LOS ANGELES (AP) - Spider-Man has leaped from comic book to record book, becoming the first movie to hit $100 million US in its first weekend. The live-action adaptation starring Tobey Maguire as the Marvel Comics web-slinger shattered box office records with a $114 million debut, surpassing the previous best of $90.3 million taken in by Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone during its first three days last fall.

With $39.3 million on Friday and $43.7 million on Saturday, director Sam Raimi's Spider-Man also beat the single-day record of $33.5 million set by Harry Potter on its second day, according to studio figures Sunday.

"Not in our wildest expectations or dreams" did the filmmakers anticipate such demand for Spider-Man, said Amy Pascal, head of Sony's Columbia Pictures, which released the film. The studio would have been thrilled with a debut in the $70 million to $80 million range, she said.

Playing in 3,615 theatres, Spider-Man averaged $31,535 per location, a new high for films opening in 3,000 or more cinemas, running about $7,000 ahead of the old record held by Harry Potter. Spider-Man also was the fastest movie to reach $100 million, passing Harry Potter and Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, which both took five days to climb to $105 million.

"I don't think there's a distribution record in history that hasn't been shattered," said Jeff Blake, Sony president of worldwide marketing and distribution. "That $100 million opening weekend has always been sort of a great white whale of the movie business. To have Spider-Man capture it is just thrilling."

With few big films opening this past weekend or next, Spider-Man has a fairly wide-open field until the new Star Wars film opens May 16.

This past weekend brought two other modest debuts. Deuces Wild, a street-gang drama starring Matt Dillon, opened at No. 7 with $2.7 million, averaging a weak $1,824 in 1,480 theatres.

Woody Allen's comedy Hollywood Ending tied for 10th place, grossing $2.2 million in 765 theatres for a $2,876 average.

Overall, the top 12 movies grossed $153.3 million, up 54 per cent from the same weekend last year, when The Mummy Returns debuted. Spider-Man accounted for nearly three-fourths of revenues among the top 12 films.

Ubiquitous marketing, an audience built up through 40 years of comic readership, solid action and visual effects and a tale of an ordinary, misfit youth helped draw an across-the-board audience to Spider-Man. The crowds were split about 50-50 between men and women and viewers older and younger than 25, Blake said.

"It is a very universal story everybody can relate to," Pascal said. "He's a completely misunderstood guy that nobody recognizes and who just wants to do good. He's not a hero from planet Krypton. He's all of us."

The success of Spider-Man bodes well for Hollywood's overall summer, which is crowded with marquee titles including new Star Wars, Men in Black, Austin Powers, Stuart Little and Spy Kids movies.

Spider-Man also sets a benchmark few films will be able to rival.

"This sets a new gold standard by which the rest of the summer blockbusters are going to be judged," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box office tracker Exhibitor Relations. "Everybody's going to have to try and live up to Spider-Man."

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at North American theatres, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. Final figures will be released Monday.

1. Spider-Man, $114 million.

2. The Scorpion King, $9.6 million.

3. Changing Lanes, $5.6 million.

4. Murder by Numbers, $3.8 million.

5. The Rookie, $3.3 million.

6. Life or Something Like It, $3.28 million.

7. Deuces Wild, $2.7 million.

8. Ice Age, $2.5 million.

9. Jason X, $2.4 million.

10 (tie). Hollywood Ending, $2.2 million.

10 (tie). Panic Room, $2.2 million.
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National post online
 
$114 million dollars for a comic book based movie? Damn we are a deep, philosophical society aren't we. I want to see it, but jeez, not on opening weekend.
 
I wouldn't have guessed in a hundred years that Spiderman would have created such demand. I figured it would be popular, but damn! It broke all the records. :confuse3:

Maybe it just came at a good time... in a lull where people were starved for a good movie. ?(
 
Will you settle for Superman,Jr instead? I think Supes is a bit under the weather these days.
 
heard Nick Cage was gonna do SP 5, don't think he'd be the best choice though, though that was years ago, too bad about Christopher Reeve :(
 
its not out here yet, i'm not particularly interested in seeing it. i'll probably see it on video, like nearly every film that i see....
 
It was really better than I thought it would be. It's a very good film and I got to see the first show. Also before the show we got to play airhockey for about 45 minutes for free because the table is broken. Really cool!

ticket.jpg
 
i'll have to persuade my missus to go see it, but i'm not hilding out any hope :)

notice on the ticket for spiderman it says 'tickets now available for spiderman' which might be preaching to the converted a little :D
 
I'm with MitchShaft and nodnod... Thought it was great. I like going to movies opening weekend because I don't want to hear any buzz about it from the people who saw it already or on the news. I want to go in without any preconceptions.

I waited too long to see Training Day and some idiot on the news said what the ending was. I still enjoyed it but not as much.

It's also cool when the theatre is packed with people and everyone laughs or screams at the same time. There were alot of kids in the theatre but they were all cool-none of them were crying or talking or anything.
 
Originally posted by outside looking in
grrr... theaters piss me off. cellphones ringing, bad sound systems, :mad:
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We finally got a theatre with a decent sound system here. After all the Dolby/THX in LA, to come here made movies sound like 2 tin cups & a string until Rave hit town.
 
I didn't sleep last night. I watched Spiderman twice instead. It's 8:45am. Wooh! :eek:

My verdict? Rubbish. ;) :D

MuFu.

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Originally posted by outside looking in
grrr... theaters piss me off. cellphones ringing, bad sound systems, :mad:
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Bad sound systems?????? I don't know about the theatre that you go to but around here it's all stadium seating and the sound system was so loud and powerful it made a girl in front of us hold her hands tight over her ears in some parts , almost made my teeth feel like they would rattle out ;)
 
Originally posted by MuFu
I didn't sleep last night. I watched Spiderman twice instead. It's 8:45am. Wooh! :eek:

My verdict? Rubbish. ;) :D

MuFu.
Click to expand...


Nice boobs she's got , that scene was removed by the censoring board of my country. 2 bad they all have the good part 2 see and left nothing for the paying viewers to see something big as that. :(
Really need to buy a DVD that has all of the extra stuff...can't get enough of Spiderman as well :p
 
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