Spidey Rules The World...(For Now)

Spider-Man 3 is still a few days away from opening here in the United States...But that hasn't stopped the web-slinging sequel from breaking records world-wide.

Ian Mohr of Variety has the numbers:

Sony's "Spider-Man 3" set records Tuesday in every one of the eight Asian territories in which it bowed. Pic opens in dozens of other territories in the next few days, culminating Friday in its domestic launch on 4,253 theaters, the widest North American opening of all time.

Pic launched Tuesday in more than a dozen key territories, including Japan, France, Germany, Italy and South Korea. Another eight go today, with 30 more on Thursday (including China, Australia and Russia) and an additional 30 on Friday (including the U.K. and India).

Euro markets should report their initial tallies today. In its opening day Tuesday, Sony estimated that the pic hit ¥415 million ($3.47 million in U.S. dollars) in Japan, beating "Spider-Man 2's" ¥410 million.

In Korea, latest pic also beat out one-day marks for its predecessors, taking in 3.2 billion won ($3.44 million), Sony honcho Jeff Blake said.

In Hong Kong, Spidey saw the biggest opening day of all time, with $HK7.5 million ($958,984), besting previous record holder "Kung Fu Hustle."

Pic also drew the biggest ever opening day of any film in Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines. In Taiwan, it saw the biggest weekday opening ever.

The list of domestic engagements could be tweaked by a few screens more or less but should comfortably beat the 4,163 locations in which DreamWorks bowed "Shrek 2" [3] years ago.

Sony launched "Spider-Man 2" at 4,152 in 2004....

Now Hiring...

...At the U.S. [post-premiere] party in [New York City on Monday night] , Sony Corp. chairman-CEO Howard Stringer wondered whether the studio should have rolled out "Spider-Man" in North America last weekend, when overall biz was way down, giving Peter Parker even more of a chance to make his money grab.

But either way, the exec was confident, saying that this installment in the series is "more of a date movie" than the first two in the franchise and thus has the potential to draw even wider demographics.

"It's not just spills and thrills," Stringer said.

"Spider-Man 3" will be the first of a number of hotly anticipated summer sequels to swing into theaters, and the pic has two weekends with no true competish before having to grapple with Paramount/DreamWorks' "Shrek the Third" on May 18. Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" sets sail the following weekend....


Speaking of "Spider-Man's" imminent launch, a Sony distribution honcho declared, "This is a great way to start the summer. Box office for the past few weeks has been lackluster, and audiences seem very ready for summer."

Sony has been adding 12:01 Friday [AM] shows in North America to meet demand on the pic

For more on 'Spider-Man 3's record-setting start...

Looks like the wall-crawler might have to hire some more cash counters to keep up with all that dough expected to roll in...As for me, family matters preclude me from seeing the flick on opening day. But plans to contribute to the cause, are taking shape, for Saturday May 5th instead.

Meantime--Another review: Owen Gleiberman, chief film critic for Entertainment Weekly offers his take on this dark new chapter of the franchise. You can read read it here...