Sony’s The Amazing Spider-Man earned a strong $7.5 million in midnight screenings, which is the same gross that Sony had for midnight shows on Spider-Man 3 on May 3, 2007.
Of that $7.5 million, IMAX took in a whopping $1.2 million on 300 screens ($4,000 per IMAX screen).
Last year Transformers: Dark of the Moon had a somewhat similar debut over Fourth-of-July week:
Transformers: Dark of the Moon DAILIES
Tue, 6/28/11 $5,500,000 Tuesday 9pm previews
Wed, 6/29/11 $37,725,329 Full Day Wednesday Incl. Midnights of $8.0M
Thu, 6/30/11 $21,540,018 Thursday Single Day Gross
Fri, 7/1/11 $32,988,883 Friday single day gross
Sat, 7/2/11 $34,487,884 Saturday single day gross
Sun, 7/3/11 $30,376,098 Sunday single day gross
Mon, 7/4/11 $18,033,185 Monday single day gross
6.5-day TOTAL $180,651,397
The first Spider-man movie was the first film to open with over $100 million taking in the now fabled $114,844,116 over the weekend of May 3, 2002 (virtually ten years to the day before Marvel/Disney’s The Avengers became the first film to open with over $200 million.
Spider-Man DAILIES
Fri, 5/3/02 $39,406,872 Friday Single Day Gross
Sat, 5/4/02 $43,622,264 Thursday Single Day Gross
Sun, 5/5/02 $31,814,980 Friday Single Day Gross
Mon, 5/6/02 $11,034,785 Saturday single day gross
Tue, 5/7/02 $9,961,854 Sunday single day gross
Wed, 5/8/02 $8,315,369 Monday single day gross
6-day TOTAL $144,156,124
In 2004 “Spider-Man 2” shifted the franchise to a Fourth-of-July release pattern:
Spider-Man 2 DAILIES
Wed, 6/30/04 $40,442,604 Wednesday Single Day Gross
Thu, 7/1/04 $23,812,920 Thursday Single Day Gross
Fri, 7/2/04 $32,452,342 Friday Single Day Gross
Sat, 7/3/04 $33,748,257 Saturday single day gross
Sun, 7/4/04 $21,955,628 Sunday single day gross
Mon, 7/5/04 $27,661,137 Monday single day gross
6-day TOTAL $180,072,888
In 2007, Spider-Man 3 went back to the first weekend in May release strategy and the results were impressive:
Spider-Man 3 DAILIES
Fri, 5/4/07 $59,841,919 Friday Single Day Gross (incl. Midnights of $7.5M)
Sat, 5/5/07 $51,336,732 Thursday Single Day Gross
Sun, 5/6/07 $39,937,865 Friday Single Day Gross
Mon, 5/7/07 $10,285,268 Saturday single day gross
Tue, 5/8/07 $8,042,682 Sunday single day gross
Wed, 5/9/07 $6,717,488 Monday single day gross
6-day TOTAL $176,161,954
Given this strong start, The Amazing Spider-Man should hold its own with its predecessors and benefit from expected great word-of-mouth that has already started with the critics who are giving the film very favorable reviews. General audiences are already getting the word out and thus The Amazing Spider-Man should be creating some Fourth of July fireworks of its own.
