Los Angeles - Spider-Man 3 was the most expensive movie ever made. But after its amazing heroics at the box office over the weekend, don't expect it to stay that way for much longer.
Tobey Maguire arrives for the German premiere of 'Spider-Man 3' in Berlin April 25, 2007. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch
Sony put the cost of making the third instalment about the reluctant webslinger at 260 million dollars, plus another 130 million dollars for marketing costs. But industry reports say the true cost of paying the superstar cast and creating the breathtaking special effects were more like 300 million dollars.
Either way the figures are huge, and must have kept Hollywood executives awake at night with thoughts of some of the other great flops in Hollywood history, from Heaven's Gate to Showgirls.
But instead, the film, with its tale of Spider-Man's journey to the dark side, smashed almost every record in sight.
In the US, the film took in 148 million dollars to break the previous opening weekend record set by Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest last summer.
Around the world, the movie broke records in 26 countries to take in an estimated 227 million dollars and outstrip the record set by Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith.
'It's the biggest opening ever in the US, Canada, Japan, Korea, China, Russia, Italy, Mexico and Brazil,' said Sony film executive Jeff Blake. 'It justifies the expense of a franchise picture like this. And I think it's a great sign for the summer.'
In fact, with a roster of summer movies filled with blockbuster sequels that share Spider-Man's cultural zeitgeist, many industry insiders were busy Monday polishing their predictions for a record-breaking summer.
Those sequels include guaranteed smash hits like Shrek the Third, which is released later this month, followed by Disney's great box office hope Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. Then there's also Ocean's 13 and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer to further boost the Hollywood hoopla.
That's not even counting a string of other eagerly awaited movies that could pile yet more millions into the Hollywood treasure chest. There's the musical comedy Hairspray, the must-see Simpsons movie, Evan Almighty, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and The Bourne Ultimatum.
The list is enough to make the coolest of industry insiders start salivating with excitement.
'This should be the first 4-billion-dollar summer,' box office expert Paul Dergarabedian told The New York Times. 'That could fuel the first 10-billion-dollar year at the box office. That was unthinkable two years ago, during the slump of 2005.'
But it doesn't seem like that much of a surprise to Sony's studio honchos. Sony Pictures Entertainment co-chairman Amy Pascal said that the studio is already well advanced in preparations for Spider-Man 4 and hopes to continue with the same group that had made the first three hits.
'We're going to make a lot more,' she told trade paper Variety. 'I hope it will be with Tobey Maguire and (director) Sam Raimi and all of them. They began it, and I hope they go on making them forever.'
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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