Grossing a whopping $114.8M in its debut weekend, Sony Pictures' action- adventure SPIDER-MAN, with visual effects by Sony Imageworks, dominated the box office this weekend, setting all kinds of records along the way. Along with becoming the highest grossing debut in motion picture history, (besting previous record holder HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE, which debuted with $90.3M in November 2001), the film also had the best single day gross (Saturday, May 4, 2002: $43.6M vs. HARRY POTTER's $33.5M) and became the fastest film to cross $100M, reaching that milestone in just three days. It remains to be seen if SPIDER-MAN's record will stand after May 16, 2002, when the highly anticipated STAR WARS: EPISODE II opens, but expect to see the spandex-clad super-hero at the top of next weekend's box office as well. Spidey's magic left the rest of the films in the top ten suffering like flies caught in a web. Two-time box office champ THE SCORPION KING, with visual effects by Centropolis FX, dropped 50%, earning just $9M in its third week, for a total gross of $74.2M. CHANGING LANES was third with $5.3M and $52M total. Thriller MURDER BY NUMBERS landed in fourth, earning $3.6M for $23.9 total while Disney's THE ROOKIE maintained its hold on sixth, earning $3.1M for a six-week total of $64.9M. ICE AGE dropped one spot to eighth place, but box office totals fell 50% from last week. The prehistoric pals took in $2.3M for an eight-week cume of $169.8M. Box office information obtained from yahoo.com.
Surprised that Spider-Man is racking up such huge sums at the box office? Danny Fingeroth isn't, as he explains, there's a little Spidey in all of us.
