The world’s moviegoers were caught in the web of Columbia Pictures’ Spider-Man 3 at the global box office this weekend as the film grossed $382 million worldwide, the highest opening ever in motion picture history, it was announced today by Jeff Blake, vice chairman, Sony Pictures Entertainment. Of that, $231 million was tallied from international ticket sales, with $151 million coming from the film’s record-setting debut in North America. Playing in 4,252 domestic locations, the film took in an average of $35,540 per screen. The film also unspooled at more than 8,900 locations abroad.
In addition to being #1 for the weekend in all 107 territories around the world in which it opened, Spider-Man 3 set a new mark for the biggest weekend of all time in 29 countries, including the United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, China, Italy, Mexico, and Brazil. Among its many accomplishments, the film set new records for the biggest single worldwide day (Saturday, May 5 – $117,631,328), biggest international opening ($231 million), and biggest worldwide opening ($382 M).
Many of the opening frame records were broken by astounding margins. In Korea, Spider-Man 3 did three times the business of the previous record holder (Korean film The Host) and bested the previous-best Hollywood film (The Matrix Reloaded) by more than four times. In Japan, Spider-Man 3 broke the old record opening weekend by 44%; in Brazil, by 48%, in Mexico by 37%; and in Italy, the film beat the previous record holder The DaVinci Code by 24%.
Among the domestic records set by Spider-Man 3 are biggest opening weekend ($151,116,516), biggest single day (Friday, $59,841,919), and biggest per-theater average for a wide release ($35,540). The film also set a new record for the largest domestic gross in IMAX theaters, with $4.8 million.
Commenting on the announcement, Blake said, “This weekend, more than 80% of the moviegoers around the world chose ‘Spider-Man 3’ and we couldn’t be more overwhelmed or elated by the global reception to this movie. We have always strived to deliver films with great stories that would excite and entertain audiences and credit for that goes first and foremost to our filmmakers and cast: director Sam Raimi, our partners at Marvel, our producers Laura Ziskin, Avi Arad, and Grant Curtis, and our stars Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Thomas Haden Church, and Topher Grace. ‘Spider-Man 3’ builds on the first two films and satisfies the extraordinary expectations of fans everywhere. This was truly a massive achievement not only for Sony Pictures, but the film industry as a whole. Summer is finally here and we expect that moviegoers everywhere will find that the 2007 season will be one to remember.”
