www.t75.org

Spider-Man 3 smashes US box office record

Spider-Man 3. (c) 2007 Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Story by Jack Foley

SPIDER-Man 3 is officially the most successful new release in US box office history, according to early studio estimates.

Distributor Sony claimed the film took $148m (£74m) in its opening weekend in North America, beating the previous record set by Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest last year [which made $136m (£68m)].

And company chief executive Michael Lynton frantically told the BBC that the franchise would continue, announcing that “everybody has every intention of making a fourth, a fifth and a sixth and on and on”.

Spider-Man 3 is one of only seven films to have reached $100m in a weekend.

The impressive figures mark an early victory for Sony in what is expected to be a summer of big hitting movies at the box office. However, the record could also be short-lived.

The third Pirates of the Caribbean film At World’s End sails into cinemas on May 24 and is expected to be another smash hit for Disney.

While there’s also the prospect of a third Shrek film at the end of June and a colossal three-way battle between Harry Potter & The Order Of The Phoenix, TV favourites The Simpsons and Michael Bay’s The Transformers in July.

Shrek the Third received its premiere in Los Angeles on Sunday two weeks ahead of its US release.

The third Spider-Man film sees Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) battle a darker side to his personality and two villains in the form of Venom and Sandman.

It has drawn a mixed response from critics despite being given the thumbs-up by fans. Some journalists have hailed it as a welcome return that’s arguably the crowning achievement of the series so far, while others have lamented too many villains and not enough darkness.

Part of its box office haul was also attributed by one publication to the fact that it is currently showing on more screens in America than any previous film – a total of 4,252 cinemas.

The original Spider-Man film, released five years ago, took $115m (£58m) during its opening weekend and remains third on the all-time new release chart. But its 2004 sequel mustered first-weekend takings of $88m (£44m).

Spider-Man 3 was also released in UK cinemas on Friday and has already broken box office records in Asia.