More Money Flowing In For Spidey
By Garth FranklinSunday May 6th 2007 11:14am
image “Spider-Man 3” took in a whopping $148 million over the weekend domestically, easily beating the $135 million record set by “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” last year, whilst Spidey 3 also landed the biggest worldwide weekend ever as well – $375 million for the three day-haul.

“Spider-Man 3” also easily surpassed the track records of the previous two films in the superhero franchise: $88.1 million for “Spider-Man 2,” and $114.8 million for “Spider-Man”. The project dominated the entire frame, it’s take was an astonishing $34,807 per theatre, and the nearest rival was second place “Disturbia” in its fourth week with a mere $5.7 million.

In fact hopes of some spill over interest into other projects was left obliterated. Last week’s newcomers “The Invisible,” “Next” and “The Condemned” plummeted a whopping 59.5%, 61.2% and 72.1% respectively from their meagre opening weekend hauls. Strong performers like “Blades of Glory,” “Hot Fuzz” and “Fracture” all fell 50-60% as well.

Sole wide newcomer, the Eric Bana-Drew Barrymore drama “Lucky You,” posted a disastrous $2.5 million opening (a truly meagre $996 per screen) and sixth place slot. Limited release fared much better with “Waitress,” “Away from Her” and “Paris, je t’aime” all taking in strong per theatre hauls.