The interesting thing about this weekend’s box-office is not so much that ‘Spider-Man 3’ remains at the top of the box-office but national box-office as a whole, for the week ending May 10, is up 67% from the same period last year
In fact, take for this first week in May has been the highest in box-office history, overall ticket sales are about 3% from last year and year-to-date total box-office is about 6% higher than 2006 ($3 billion vs $2.82 billion).
And while Spidey is doing well, taking in $60 million this past weekend from 4,252 theaters, bringing its two week take to $242.1 million – it lags behind ‘Pirates of the Caribbean – Dead Man’s Chest’ which opened in July 2006 with a $258.4 million take in its first 10 days of release.
Spider-Man 3’s release on Imax big screens seemed to help box-office take pulling in $2.8 million from 84 screens taking in $9.8 million over the 10 day period – the fastest a film has reached that level in Imax history.
"To be at this place and time with 'Spider-Man 3' -- in comparison (with the first two films) -- we are extremely happy with the results," said Rory Bruer, president of Sony Pictures Releasing. After 10 days in release, ‘Spider-Man’ had garnered $223 million and "Spider-Man 2" had $225 million in the coffers.’
Internationally, Spidey pulled in an estimated $85.5 million over the weekend, advancing its take to $380 million, and combined with domestic for a worldwide box-office cume of $622.1 million for the Sam Raimi directed feature.
Looking ahead to the opening of Paramount/DreamWork's "Shrek the Third" May 18th and Disney’s "Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End" May 25th and other summer blockbusters opening over the next few weeks, Bruer said, "I think you're going to see the box-office explode like we've never seen before, which will enhance every film in the marketplace."
The other interesting film to note from this past weekend’s box-office is number four placed ‘Disturbia,’ a Paramount/DreamWorks release. Dropping just 18% from last week – five weeks in release the Shia LaBeouf starrer took in $4.8 million from 3,106 locations.
Number two spot was held by Fox Atomic’s sci-fi thriller, ’28 Weeks Later’ taking in $10 million from 2,303 locations in its first week of release.
Rest of the weekend openings were pretty lackluster – and here, thanks to Box Office Mojo, are the top five.
1. Spider-Man 3 (Sony / Columbia)
2. 28 Weeks Later (Fox Atomic)
3. Georgia Rule (Universal)
4. Disturbia (Paramount (DreamWorks))
5. Delta Farce (Lionsgate)
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