And so it begins. Spider-Man 3, the webbed superhero’s latest adventure, smashed North American box-office records this weekend, with $148 million in its first three days. It has beat the previous record holder, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, which opened last year with $135.6 million.
With $59.3 million on its opening day Friday alone, Spider-Man 3, which reunites Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst and director Sam Raimi, also broke the single-day box-office record, previously held by Dead Man’s Chest, which took in $55.8 million in its first day of release.
According to The Associated Press, Spider-Man 3 has taken in $227 million in foreign markets, bringing the film’s worldwide total to $375 million, since it began rolling out overseas Tuesday. Playing in a record 4,252 locations domestically, Spider-Man 3 averaged an impressive $34,807 a theater. In just days, the movie has grossed $117 million more than its $258 million mega-production budget.
The weekend’s only other new wide release, the romantic drama Lucky You, starring Eric Bana and Drew Barrymore, tanked with $2.5 million to come in sixth place.
With Shrek the Third, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, and an onslaught of other potential blockbusters to follow, studio executives predict this could be a record summer for modern Hollywood.
“If you could imagine the best kickoff to what could be the biggest summer of all time, this is the scenario,” Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers, told AP. “This will have a ripple effect on audiences exposed to the marketing for all the other summer films.”
The overall box office soared with Spider-Man 3. The top-12 movies took in $176.6 million, up 77 percent from last year’s total of $99.6 million and up 167.03 percent from last weekend’s total of $66.1 million. The Top Three films at the box office this time last year were: Paramount’s Mission: Impossible III, which opened at No. 1 with $47.7 million in 4,054 theaters, averaging $11,777 per theater; Sony’s R.V., which stayed in second place in its second week with $11 million in 3,651 theaters, averaging $3,014 per theater; and Freestyle Releasing’s An American Haunting, which opened in third place with $5.7 million in 1,680 theaters, averaging $3,443 per theater. (Click here to read last year’s box office report).
BOX OFFICE TOP 10, ESTIMATES:
(Source: Exhibitor Relations, Inc.)
No. 1: Spider-Man 3 (Sony, PG-13)
• Gross: $148 million
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 4,252
• Per-theater average: $34,807
No. 2: Disturbia (Paramount, PG-13)
• Gross: $5.7 million (-37%)
• Weeks opened: 4
• Theaters: 3,132 (+85)
• Per-theater average: $1,826
• Cume to date: $59.8 million
No. 3: Fracture (New Line, R)
• Gross: $3.5 million (-49%)
• Weeks opened: 3
• Theaters: 2,365 (-78)
• Per-theater average: $1,480
• Cume to date: $26.5 million
No. 4: The Invisible (Buena Vista, PG-13)
• Gross: $3.1 million (-60%)
• Weeks opened: 2
• Theaters: 2,019 (unchanged)
• Per-theater average: $1,548
• Cume to date: $12.3 million
No. 5: Next (Paramount, PG-13)
• Gross: $2.7 million (-61%)
• Weeks opened: 2
• Theaters: 2,733 (+8)
• Per-theater average: $1,013
• Cume to date: $11.8 million
No. 6: Lucky You (Warner Bros., PG-13)
• Gross: $2.5 million
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 2,525
• Per-theater average: $996
No. 7: Meet the Robinsons (Buena Vista, G)
• Gross: $2.4 million (-49%)
• Weeks opened: 6
• Theaters: 2,107 (-354)
• Per-theater average: $1,170
• Cume to date: $91.7 million
No. 8: Blades of Glory (Paramount, PG-13)
• Gross: $2.3 million (-55%)
• Weeks opened: 6
• Theaters: 2,113 (-943)
• Per-theater average: $1,089
• Cume to date: $111.6 million
No. 9: Hot Fuzz (Rogue, R)
• Gross: $2 million (-58%)
• Weeks opened: 3
• Theaters: 1,266 (-6)
• Per-theater average: $1,623
• Cume to date: $16.1 million
No. 10: Are We Done Yet? (Sony, PG)
• Gross: $1.7 million (-51%)
• Weeks opened: 5
• Theaters: 1,704 (-997)
• Per-theater average: $998
• Cume to date: $46.1 million
OTHER OPENINGS
Waitress (Fox Searchligt’s, R)
• Gross: $91,470
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 4
• Per-theater average: $22,867
Away From Her (Lionsgate, PG-13)
• Gross: $56,000
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 4
• Per-theater average: $14,000
The Flying Scotsman (MGM, PG-13)
• Gross: $78,000
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 100
• Per-theater average: $780
Paris Je T’Aime (First Look, R)
• Gross: $37,777
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 2
• Per-theater average: $18,889
