Spider-Man 3, which shattered box office records last weekend with over $150 million in weekend sales over three days, almost broke another, far-less-honorable box office record this weekend: the biggest drop-off of any blockbuster. The other two Spider-Man films have been especially good with weekend holdover, but both those films had excellent word-of-mouth and repeat viewing capabilities. Spider-Man 3, which a sluggish pace and a mess of a screenplay, does not have the luxury of the same glowing reviews and the potential for fan boys to run back to the theater to watch it a second or third time.
Spider-Man 3 made $60 million over the weekend, a great take for most films. Just not the Spider-Man franchise. From $150 to $60 million is a 60% drop, a nasty number by anyone's imagination. It beat out previous weekend box office record holder Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (54%) and luckily for it avoided the crushing defeat another Marvel master franchise took at the hands of X-Men United, which fell 67% in its second weekend after an amazing opening.
So we are starting to see a trend here... Studios have long ignored critical demands for good films during the summer months, but with openings getting bigger and bigger, blockbusters are getting more and more front loaded. If a studio can make $150 million in a weekend based on marketing efforts alone, then there's no need to make a good movie, right? WRONG! Had Spider-Man 3 been as good as Spider-Man 2, we'd probably be looking at $20 million more in the bank right now for the film, on the weekend alone - not to mention the day-by-day numbers during the week. The fumbling of Spider-Man 3 will cost its studio and Marvel tens of millions of dollars, which is a lot of zeros that add up quickly.
And looking at the previously mentioned films in this article, neither X-Men United nor Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest were especially good (though sadly I must say X-Men United was the most entertaining of the three). Had X-Men United been as good of a film as X-Men 2, it wouldn't have suffered bad word-of-mouth and bad reviews. Dead Man's Chest was just the same.
Bottom line: In the summer, movie reviews may not matter much on opening weekend, but all of those people who didn't want to see the movie enough to see the film on opening weekend are listening, both to movie reviews and, more importantly, word-of-mouth. Studios, get a clue! Archive for the ‘Spiderman’ Category
Spider-Man 3 drops precipitous 60% in second weekend
Sunday, May 13th, 2007Spider-Man 3, which shattered box office records last weekend with over $150 million in weekend sales over three days, almost broke another, far-less-honorable box office record this weekend: the biggest drop-off of any blockbuster. The other two Spider-Man films have been especially good with weekend holdover, but both those films had excellent word-of-mouth and repeat viewing capabilities. Spider-Man 3, which a sluggish pace and a mess of a screenplay, does not have the luxury of the same glowing reviews and the potential for fan boys to run back to the theater to watch it a second or third time.
Spider-Man 3 made $60 million over the weekend, a great take for most films. Just not the Spider-Man franchise. From $150 to $60 million is a 60% drop, a nasty number by anyone's imagination. It beat out previous weekend box office record holder Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (54%) and luckily for it avoided the crushing defeat another Marvel master franchise took at the hands of X-Men United, which fell 67% in its second weekend after an amazing opening.
So we are starting to see a trend here... Studios have long ignored critical demands for good films during the summer months, but with openings getting bigger and bigger, blockbusters are getting more and more front loaded. If a studio can make $150 million in a weekend based on marketing efforts alone, then there's no need to make a good movie, right? WRONG! Had Spider-Man 3 been as good as Spider-Man 2, we'd probably be looking at $20 million more in the bank right now for the film, on the weekend alone - not to mention the day-by-day numbers during the week. The fumbling of Spider-Man 3 will cost its studio and Marvel tens of millions of dollars, which is a lot of zeros that add up quickly.
And looking at the previously mentioned films in this article, neither X-Men United nor Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest were especially good (though sadly I must say X-Men United was the most entertaining of the three). Had X-Men United been as good of a film as X-Men 2, it wouldn't have suffered bad word-of-mouth and bad reviews. Dead Man's Chest was just the same.
Bottom line: In the summer, movie reviews may not matter much on opening weekend, but all of those people who didn't want to see the movie enough to see the film on opening weekend are listening, both to movie reviews and, more importantly, word-of-mouth. Studios, get a clue! Review – Spiderman 3 (2007)
Thursday, May 10th, 2007
Breaking box-office and hype records everywhere, the third outing of Peter Parker and his gang of flawed super-villains has finally arrived. But it hasn’t so much arrived with a bang as it has a small, controlled explosion.
We find Peter (Tobey Maguire) and Mary-Jane (Kirsten Dunst) where the last film left off; happy and annoying. But soon MJ hits career-trouble and she becomes even more of a whiney, irritating twat. Peeved that her hero boyfriend is too busy saving people’s lives to be extra nice to her, the two drift apart. With the help of an alien symbiote, Peter finds his darkside and goes all… dark. Meanwhile, he has to contend with his vengeful best friend (James Franco), his uncle’s sandy murderer (Thomas Haden Church) and a rival photographer (Topher Grace).
Spider-Man 3 tries a little too hard.
Monday, May 7th, 2007Starring: Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, Thomas Haden Church, Topher Grace, James Franco, Theresa Russell
Directed by: Sam Raimi
Produced by: Stan Lee, Joseph M. Caracciolo Jr, Joseph M. Caracciolo Jr
Written By: Alvin Sargent
Distributor: Sony Pictures Releasing
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for sequences of intense action violence.
Release Date: May 4th, 2007
This movie may not have been as good as the other two Spiderman movies, but it is still a great movie. It is worthy of the title.
The continuing humanization of the Peter Parker/Spiderman character is what makes this movie great. You can relate to this character! Any man who has been in a long-term relationship and who has made the mistake of talking about himself when his wife or girlfriend just needs to be listened to can understand Tobey Maguire’s character. Parker does a good job at ticking off Mary Jane and Maguire does a good job of portraying an arrogant jerk.
The acting wasn’t flawless, of course. When Parker is going through the attitude adjustments caused by the parasite, the viewer is subjected to some “hamming-up” done by Maguire. The whole remake of the Travolta “Saturday Night Fever” strut was pretty damn funny.
But for the few problems, this film does not disappoint. As usual the effects were awesome and they alone make the movie worth seeing.
My think that they just tied to squeeze too much into this movie. You simply can’t do it all.
Those people who get upset because the movie doesn’t follow the comic book’s mythology point by point should just get over it. It follows it close enough, and they need to realize that squeezing several decades of comic book and newspaper story lines into two hours is not an easy task.
Detach yourself from your preconceptions and just enjoy the movie!!!
Spidey Shatters Records With $148M
Monday, May 7th, 2007Spider-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.”
With $59.3 million on opening day Friday, Sony’s “Spider-Man 3” broke the single-day box-office record, also held by “Dead Man’s Chest” with $55.8 million in its first day.
Since it began rolling out overseas on Tuesday, “Spider-Man 3” has taken in $227 million in foreign markets, bringing the film’s worldwide total to $375 million. In just days, the movie has grossed $117 million more than its whopping $258 million production budget.
In just two days, it also nearly matched the $114.8 million opening weekend of 2002’s “Spider-Man,” which had held the debut record until “Dead Man’s Chest” opened.
“Spider-Man 3” reunites director Sam Raimi, who also made the previous two installments, and stars Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst.
“Sam Raimi is a genius,” said Amy Pascal, Sony Pictures co-chairman. “I could have never envisioned this. What I was hoping was we would just break the `Spider-Man 1′ record. This is beyond my wildest dream.”
The overall box office soared from “Spider-Man 3,” with the top-12 movies taking in $176.6 million, up 77 percent from the same weekend a year ago, when “Mission: Impossible III” opened with $47.7 million.
“Spider-Man 3” outdid that movie by $100 million and grossed more in each of its first two days than “Mission: Impossible III” did over the full weekend.
Also among the records smashed by “Spider-Man 3” was a $4.8 million domestic gross at huge-screen IMAX theaters, topping the previous best of $3.6 million set by “300” in March.
Playing in a record 4,252 locations domestically, “Spider-Man 3” averaged a whopping $34,807 a theater.
Domestically, “Spider-Man 3” could enter its second weekend Friday with $200 million already in the bank. The film has the market largely to itself for the next week and a half, with no major competition arriving 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 following, studio executives predict this could be a record summer for modern Hollywood.
“Spider-Man 3” packed in enormous crowds that were captive audiences viewing trailers for those upcoming flicks.
“If you could imagine the best kickoff to what could be the biggest summer of all time, this is the scenario,” said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers. “This will have a ripple effect on audiences exposed to the marketing for all the other summer films.”
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.
“Lucky You” from Warner Bros., bombed with $2.5 million to come in at No. 6.
Directed by Curtis Hanson (“L.A. Confidential”), “Lucky You” stars Drew Barrymore as a budding Las Vegas singer, Eric Bana as skilled gambler and Robert Duvall as his estranged father in a tale set against the World Series of Poker.
Two critically acclaimed films opened well in limited release.
Fox Searchlight’s “Waitress,” starring Keri Russell as a small-town woman whose flavorful pies are named after the hard knocks in her messy personal life, debuted with $91,470 in four theaters. “Waitress” was written and directed by co-star Adrienne Shelly, who was slain in her Manhattan apartment last fall.
Lionsgate’s “Away From Her,” the directing debut of actress Sarah Polley, premiered with $56,000 in four theaters. “Away From Her” stars Julie Christie as a woman losing her memory from Alzheimer’s and Gordon Pinsent as the devoted husband agonizing over her loss.
Both films expand to more theaters throughout May.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Media By Numbers LLC. Final figures will be released Monday.
- “Spider-Man 3,” $148 million.
- “Disturbia,” $5.7 million.
- “Fracture,” $3.4 million.
- “The Invisible,” $3.1 million.
- “Next,” $2.8 million.
- “Lucky You,” $2.5 million.
- “Meet the Robinsons,” $2.46 million.
- “Blades of Glory,” $2.3 million.
- “Hot Fuzz,” $2.1 million.
- “Are We Done Yet?“, $1.7 million.
Spider-Man 3 makes $148 million over the weekend
Sunday, May 6th, 2007
The Spider-Man franchise has reclaimed the box office throne from Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, as Spider-Man 3 raked in $148 million since Thursday at midnight, the biggest opening ever, based on Sunday's estimates.
Up until laster year, the original Spider-Man had owned the three-day box office record of $114 million, only to be crushed by Pirates' $135.6 million opening. It's a fitting coup, as Dead Man's Chest really wasn't that good and didn't deserve the $135.6 million it made - of course, Spider-Man 3 ain't no Cinderella either, as it lacks the entertainment value of the previous two movies.
Still, is anyone really that surprised that Spider-Man 3 took back the throne, and does anyone expect Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End to do better in a few weeks? I highly doubt it, but crazier things have happened.
If you're wondering, the rest of the box office this weekend was scary, as Disturbia, the second place film, only made $5.7 million, which means that the rest were even worse. The only other new entry this weekend, Lucky You, saw its counter programming fail, as it came in sixth with only $2.5 million. Ha ha, I knew that one was going to tank! Spider-Man 3 vs. X-Men: United – which one is better?
Saturday, May 5th, 2007
X-Men: United was a so-so sequel to two very good X-Men movies, as too much was crammed into a short running time. Spider-Man 3, is forty minutes longer but also crammed with too much stuff.
So which is better? I was not a big fan of X-Men: United, but I must say I actually liked it better than Spider-Man 3. After all, it was action-packed, fast paced and had lots of interesting developments, whereas Spider-Man 3 is long, a bit boring and doesn't offer any "money shot" action scenes.
I never saw that one coming...
(also, read my new Spider-Man 3 movie review)
Spiderman 3 preview (new trailer)
Sunday, March 11th, 2007
Sony Pictures Entertainment’s third film in the popular franchise, Spider-Man 3 which is scheduled for May 4, 2007 while Japans get a first look at the third chapter in the ‘Spider-Man’ series on May 1. The upcoming movie was directed by Sam Raimi and futures stars like: Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Thomas Haden [...]
