(REUTERS) “Spider-Man,” the Columbia Pictures film based on the life and times of the Marvel Comics webslinger, grossed an amazing $114 million in its first three days in theaters, Friday through Sunday.
That makes it the biggest three-day film debut of all time, shattering the $90.3 million record set last November by “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” and the fastest film to break the $100 million barrier. No other movie has yet cracked the seven-figure mark in its first weekend.
The film’s super-sized opening gave a powerful jolt to the unofficial start of a summer season that may be filled with blockbusters, including “Star Wars: Episode II — Attack of the Clones,” which opens in two weeks.
“This portends a record-breaking summer season,” said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracking service Exhibitor Relations. “There’s a new reality for what is possible in terms of box office.”
Flush from the film’s stunning success, Marvel Enterprises formally announced Monday that Columbia has paid a seven-figure advance for a “Spider-Man” sequel slated for release in 2004. A third film is planned for two years later.
“Spidey” star Tobey Maguire is on board for both sequels, reprising his role as a high school nerd who gets spider-like powers and superhuman strength from the bite of a genetically altered arachnid.
For Maguire, the instant superstar status he gained from “Spider-Man” is as dramatic as the transformation undergone by his character. Columbia initially balked at director Sam Raimi’s insistence that the diminutive, doe-eyed actor with the creaky voice be cast in the role of his superhero.
“Spider-Man” is only the latest in a new wave of superheroes leaping off the pages of comic books and into theaters, as studios increasingly look to build big-event movie “franchises” with surefire box-office potential.
Four such Marvel-based films are due out next year alone, starting with “Daredevil” in January from 20th Century Fox. An “X-Men” sequel, “X2,” from Fox comes next, in May 2003, followed by “The Hulk” in June 2003 from Universal Pictures and “Punisher,” about an ex-cop vigilante, two months later from Artisan Entertainment.
Marvel also has its underwater hero “Sub-Mariner” under development at Universal, “The Fantastic Four” at Fox, the mystical “Dr. Strange” at Dimension Films and “Ghost Rider” at Columbia, a unit of Sony Corp.
All of these projects gained a new measure of momentum from the performance of “Spider-Man.”
“An opening like that obviously builds the confidence of studios that wish to have more franchise movies,” said Avi Arad, president of Marvel Studios.
Warner Bros., which owns rival D.C. Comics, also has a flurry of films in the works from its own staple of superheroes — two Batman movies, a new Superman movie, a team-up between Superman and Batman, a Wonder Woman film and a film based on the Batman villain Catwoman.
Superheroes have a distinguished track record as commercial powerhouses in Hollywood. The first “Superman,” starring Christopher Reeve, grossed more than $134 million during its 1978 run, making it a huge hit for its time.
Warner’s original “Batman” film in 1989 made $40.5 million in its first weekend, a big number even by today’s standards, and went on to rake in more than $251 million domestically. More recently, “X-Men” opened with $54.5 million in 2000 on its way to a $157.3 million tally.
Many of the latest projects come with big-name talent. Acclaimed filmmaker Ang Lee (“Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”) is directing “The Hulk,” with Eric Bana in the title role of the giant green brute and Oscar winner Jennifer Connelly co-starring.
Another Oscar-winning actress, Halle Berry, will reprise her role as the superhero known as Storm for “X2,” co-starring Patrick Stewart of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” fame. And Ben Affleck will star in “Daredevil” as the blind but acrobatic crime fighter whose other super-developed senses more than make up for his lost vision.
Affleck, who trained for weeks to perform some of his own stunts, joked that “Spider-Man” will be a hard act to follow, telling Reuters, “There’s no money left. Spider-Man has all the money.” The bar has, indeed, been set high.
The $43.6 million raked in by “Spider-Man” Saturday also sets a new single-day box-office benchmark, eclipsing the previous one-day record of $33.5 million set by “Harry Potter” in its second day of release.
For Columbia, “Spider-Man” more than doubles the studio’s previous best opening — the $51.1 million grossed by “Men in Black” in 1997 in its first three days. A sequel to “MiB,” itself based on an obscure comic book, opens in two months.
The film also cashed in on a huge marketing campaign, a built-in fan base of comic-book devotees, its mix of action and romance, and the fact that its main protagonists were teenagers, providing special appeal to the biggest and most ardent segment of the movie-going public.