'Spider-Man 3' flies off with another box-office record

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published May 7, 2007

Spider-Man caught just about everyone in his web. The superhero's latest adventure, Spider-Man 3, smashed box-office records with $148-million in its first three days, according to studio estimates Sunday.

That put it ahead of the previous record debut of $135.6-million set last summer by Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. In just days, Spider-Man 3 has grossed $117-million more worldwide than its $258-million production budget.

The film has the market largely to itself until DreamWorks Animation's Shrek the Third arrives May 18. With Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End and an onslaught of other potential blockbusters, studio executives predict this could be a record summer for modern Hollywood.

The gap between Spider-Man 3 and the No. 2 movie - DreamWorks and Paramount's Disturbia at $5.7-million - was larger than any other movie's debut. Fracture was No. 3 for the weekend in estimated ticket sales.

[Last modified May 7, 2007, 00:53:01]