Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Spiderman 3 sets 3-Day Record

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Posted by Shane Cooper (Member # 2510) on 05-06-2007, 12:29 AM:

and it begins...

Spiderman 3 breaks 1-day record

'Spider-Man 3' breaks 1-day record

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -- "Spider-Man 3" sold a record $59 million worth of tickets during its first day of release across North America, and is on track to break the industry mark for an opening weekend, according to estimates issued Saturday by the film's distributor.

The highly anticipated superhero saga opened in the United States and Canada Friday, having already begun its international campaign May 1.

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Showbiz Tonight's Sibila Vargas sits down with Tobey Maguire to discuss his role in 'Spider-Man 3'. (May 2)
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The North American one-day and opening-weekend records were held by Walt Disney Co.'s July 2006 smash "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," with respective sums of $55.8 million and $135.6 million.

"Based on the first day's performance, the studio believes the film will deliver in the range of $135 million to $145 million in North America for its first three days of release," Columbia Pictures said in a statement.

The Sony Corp. (Charts) -owned studio will issue three-day estimates early Sunday.

Summer of sequels!
The first "Spider-Man," released in 2002, earned $39.4 million on its first day, $114.8 million on its first weekend, and $403 million by the end of its North American run. Two years later, "Spider-Man 2" finished with $373 million. It opened on a Wednesday -- rather than the traditional Friday -- with $40.4 million, and earned $88.2 million during the subsequent weekend.

Overseas business is similarly brisk, with Friday sales estimated at $45 million. A Columbia spokesman did not have information on the foreign earnings to date.

All three films star Tobey Maguire as the web-slinging crime fighter, and Kirsten Dunst as his girlfriend. Sam Raimi directed the trilogy.

Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 05-06-2007, 12:37 AM:

On the other hand, ticket prices are higher than even a year ago. Especially at places running it in digital.

Posted by Dustin Mitchell (Member # 372) on 05-06-2007, 01:05 AM:

At least where Carmike is concerned there haven't been any additional ticket price hikes due to digital. Some theatres have had price increases but typically Carmike does this once or twice a year anyway; nothing at all to do with digital (we are not talking about Meet the Robinsons 3-D of course, a different situation).

Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 05-06-2007, 01:28 AM:

quote: Dustin Mitchell
At least where Carmike is concerned there haven't been any additional ticket price hikes due to digital. Some theatres have had price increases but typically Carmike does this once or twice a year anyway; nothing at all to do with digital (we are not talking about Meet the Robinsons 3-D of course, a different situation).

Oops. I'm tired. I closed booth last night (got to sleep about 2:30) then had to open at 9 am.

And for the grosses, it doesn't hurt that this is the widest release ever.

edit: But my main original point still stands. Ticket prices, on average, are higher than a year ago.

Posted by Dustin Mitchell (Member # 372) on 05-06-2007, 01:54 AM:

I hear you man, I worked the Thursday and Friday midnight showings closing the building both nights and then I had to be at work Saturday at 9.

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 05-06-2007, 02:42 AM:

quote: Chris Slycord
Ticket prices, on average, are higher than a year ago

..but sad thing is that you don't see that increase on your paycheck..maybe a quarter raise if that ...

Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 05-06-2007, 03:03 AM:

Yeah well we all know ticket prices don't go to the cinemas anyway.

Though I may be out of this business altogether soon. I have a second interview for graduate school soon. So the little bit of $ I get is being horded for now.

Posted by Shane Cooper (Member # 2510) on 05-06-2007, 05:45 PM:

Spiderman Sets 3-Day Record

and it continues...

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Spider-Man caught just about everyone in his web. The superhero's latest adventure, "Spider-Man 3," smashed box-office records with $148 million in its first three days, according to studio estimates Sunday.

That put it ahead of the previous record debut of $135.6 million set last summer by "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest."

With $59.3 million on opening day Friday, Sony's "Spider-Man 3" broke the single-day box-office record, also held by "Dead Man's Chest" with $55.8 million in its first day.

Since it began rolling out overseas on Tuesday, "Spider-Man 3" has taken in $227 million in foreign markets, bringing the film's worldwide total to $375 million. In just days, the movie has grossed $117 million more than its whopping $258 million production budget.

In just two days, it also nearly matched the $114.8 million opening weekend of 2002's "Spider-Man," which had held the debut record until "Dead Man's Chest" opened.

"Spider-Man 3" reunites director Sam Raimi, who also made the previous two installments, and stars Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst.

"Sam Raimi is a genius," said Amy Pascal, Sony Pictures co-chairman. "I could have never envisioned this. What I was hoping was we would just break the 'Spider-Man 1' record. This is beyond my wildest dream." (Watch the stars of "Spider Man 3" discuss the film )

The overall box office soared from "Spider-Man 3," with the top-12 movies taking in $176.6 million, up 77 percent from the same weekend a year ago, when "Mission: Impossible III" opened with $47.7 million.

"Spider-Man 3" outdid that movie by $100 million and grossed more in each of its first two days than "Mission: Impossible III" did over the full weekend.

Also among the records smashed by "Spider-Man 3" was a $4.8 million domestic gross at huge-screen IMAX theaters, topping the previous best of $3.6 million set by "300" in March.

Playing in a record 4,252 locations domestically, "Spider-Man 3" averaged a whopping $34,807 a theater.

Domestically, "Spider-Man 3" could enter its second weekend Friday with $200 million already in the bank. The film has the market largely to itself for the next week and a half, with no major competition arriving until DreamWorks Animation's "Shrek the Third" arrives May 18.

With "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" and an onslaught of other potential blockbusters following, studio executives predict this could be a record summer for modern Hollywood.

"Spider-Man 3" packed in enormous crowds that were captive audiences viewing trailers for those upcoming flicks.

"If you could imagine the best kickoff to what could be the biggest summer of all time, this is the scenario," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers. "This will have a ripple effect on audiences exposed to the marketing for all the other summer films."

The gap between "Spider-Man 3" and the No. 2 movie _ DreamWorks and Paramount's "Disturbia" at $5.7 million -- was larger than any other movie's debut. "Disturbia," which had been No. 1 for three-straight weekends, raised its total to $59.9 million.

The weekend's only other new wide release, the romantic drama "Lucky You" from Warner Bros., bombed with $2.5 million to come in at No. 6.

Directed by Curtis Hanson ("L.A. Confidential"), "Lucky You" stars Drew Barrymore as a budding Las Vegas singer, Eric Bana as skilled gambler and Robert Duvall as his estranged father in a tale set against the World Series of Poker.

Two critically acclaimed films opened well in limited release.

Fox Searchlight's "Waitress," starring Keri Russell as a small-town woman whose flavorful pies are named after the hard knocks in her messy personal life, debuted with $91,470 in four theaters. "Waitress" was written and directed by co-star Adrienne Shelly, who was slain in her Manhattan apartment last fall.

Lionsgate's "Away From Her," the directing debut of actress Sarah Polley, premiered with $56,000 in four theaters. "Away From Her" stars Julie Christie as a woman losing her memory from Alzheimer's and Gordon Pinsent as the devoted husband agonizing over her loss.

Both films expand to more theaters throughout May.

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 05-06-2007, 07:18 PM:

Is it already dropping screens? Yesterday the Regal 15 here had 5 prints on 9 screens; 4 prints were interlocked on 2 screens each. Today it's 5 prints on 5 screens, no interlocks.

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 05-06-2007, 07:45 PM:

and sadly, when a film budget is that high, it had to bank double to be in the black...what I heard.

Posted by Lyle Romer (Member # 1266) on 05-07-2007, 08:58 AM:

quote: Monte L Fullmer
and sadly, when a film budget is that high, it had to bank double to be in the black...what I heard.

Assuming that on average the studio will end up with about 50% of gross at end of run it probably has to do around $600 million WORLDWIDE to break even on theatrical release alone. But don't forget there is still all the merchandise revenue and then the DVD, PPV, Cable, broadcast, etc.

Posted by Dustin Mitchell (Member # 372) on 05-07-2007, 02:57 PM:

Rumors are that the true production/marketing cost was $500 million, not sure if I buy that though.

Given that this likely won't have very good legs-certainly not when Pirates opens-I think Sony's take will be closer to 60-70%.

Posted by Sam King (Member # 4029) on 05-07-2007, 06:42 PM:

We were insanely busy Thursday night, Friday, and Sunday. I think the big fight hurt us on Saturday. We did a 5 theatre interlock on Friday night, a new record for us! But it paid off we were in the top 10 theatres in the country!

[ 05-07-2007, 09:37 PM: Message edited by: Sam King ]

Posted by Lyle Romer (Member # 1266) on 05-07-2007, 09:04 PM:

Sam - You might want to fix the typo where you meant to write "big" and hit the "n" key instead.

Posted by Mark Strube (Member # 4190) on 05-07-2007, 09:36 PM:

quote:
But it paid off we were in the top 10 theatres in the country!

Interesting... how do you find out where various theatres rank? And does having a higher ticket price also affect where this ranking is, or is this somehow accounted for?

Posted by Sam King (Member # 4029) on 05-07-2007, 09:37 PM:

OH WOW, thanks for catching that!

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 05-07-2007, 09:50 PM:

Mark - individual theatre grosses are reported to various companies, among them Rentrak and Neilsen/EDI.

We report to Rentrak. Their deal is, if I opt to allow any other theatre to see my grosses, then I can see everyone else's grosses in return. Or, you can be set up to only see grosses in your own area (that's how we're set up.) It helps with booking...we can see how someone near us did with a certain title and they can do the same.

Posted by Mark Strube (Member # 4190) on 05-09-2007, 01:58 AM:

Interesting! All I know about our ranking is from my manager's latest email saying we rocked 1st place in the circuit this past weekend. Any ideas?

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 05-09-2007, 10:43 AM:

There have been lots of times we've been in first place in our circuit (film buyer's list of clients, not a chain), but then it always turns out some higher grossing place hasn't turned in their sales yet!

Posted by Mark Strube (Member # 4190) on 05-09-2007, 12:13 PM:

quote: Mike Blakesley
film buyer's list of clients, not a chain

Ahh ok... thanks for clearing that up!

Posted by Dustin Mitchell (Member # 372) on 05-09-2007, 04:14 PM:

There's been a pretty sharp drop-off in business over the past three days. I wouldn't be surprised if Spider-man 3 set the record for biggest second week drop too.

Posted by Dustin Mitchell (Member # 372) on 05-20-2007, 07:36 PM:

As most could have predicted this will be the lowest grossing (domestic) of the Spider-man franchise. This weekends take brough the total to $281 million but with Pirates opening this coming Friday Spiday will barely break $300 million. Spidey 1 and 2 grossed $407 million and $371 million domestically respectively Boxofficemojo link.

With almost $750 million in the bank world-wide Sony can't be crying too hard though.