Spider-Man breaks one-day record

morpheusv6 · 06-05-2007, 03:06 AM

Spider-Man 3 has already broken box office records in Asia

Spider-Man 3 has set a new box office record for first-day takings, earning $59m (£30m) in North America on Friday, according to its film studio Sony. The movie beat the previous record of $55.8m (£28m), set by Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest last year.
And it is on course to set a new record for an opening weekend. But it has reached that mark with mixed reviews.
"That's why they call him the amazing Spider-Man," said Paul Dergarabedian of box office tracker Media By Numbers.
"Just five years ago, these are numbers we thought we'd never see."
The $59m haul would be a good result for an opening weekend, let alone a single day, he told the Associated Press.
The reaction from fans may have been overwhelmingly positive - but the critical response has been less than glowing.
'Plain awful'
The Washington Post said the film was "plain awful", while The New York Post called it "overly long and complicated".
The more favourable reviews included Newsweek magazine, which said it was "nothing if not eclectic, but somehow this ambitious mishmash works".
The third instalment in the series sees Peter Parker, played by Tobey Maguire, battle the darker side of his personality and try to hold on to his love interest Mary Jane Watson, played by Kirsten Dunst.
Variety magazine said it was also showing on more screens than any previous film, playing in 4,252 cinemas.
The previous Spider-Man film took $40m (£20m) on its opening day in 2004, Variety said. It went on to make $373m (£187m) in the US in total, $30m (£15m) behind the overall takings for 2002's original.
Spider-Man 3 was also released in the UK on Friday and has already broken box office records in Asia.

source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6628601.stm