'Spider-Man 2' ropes in $92 million opening
May 5, 2014 | 10:21am
NEW YORK (AP) — Spider-Man can still sling it at the box office.
"The Amazing Spider-Man 2" debuted with $92 million in North American theaters over the weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday. It was a solid opening for Sony's Columbia Pictures, which has released five movies about Marvel's web-slinging superhero in the last 14 years.
The release of "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" essentially kicks off Hollywood's summer season and its annual parade of sequels and spectacle. Marvel movies have regularly commenced summer moviegoing in recent years, and the "Spider-Man 2" opening begins the season with a business-as-usual blockbuster performance.
Last week's No. 1 film, the female revenge comedy "The Other Woman," starring Cameron Diaz, slid to a distant second with $14 million in its second weekend.
The rebooted "Spider-Man" franchise starring Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone isn't performing quite as strongly as Sam Raimi's trilogy with Tobey Maguire. On opening weekends, the Raimi films grossed, in order: $114.1 million, $88.2 million and $151.1 million.
The "The Amazing Spider-Man," also directed by Marc Webb, opened on a Tuesday in 2012, making $62 million on its debut weekend and $137 million over its first six days.
The new sequel, which began rolling out overseas two weeks ago, is also doing huge international business. It has already grossed $161 million abroad, and it added another $116 million over the weekend.
That included $10.4 million from China, where it opened Sunday on a record 11,002 screens. And it set a record for Hollywood titles in India with a $6.5 million debut.
"Everywhere we opened just popped," said Rory Bruer, head of domestic distribution for Sony.
Domestically, families made up 33 percent of the audience of the PG-13 "The Amazing Spider-Man 2," a high percentage for a superhero film.
"It did seem to have a very strong component to the film, which we felt was an opportunity," Bruer said. "It also lends itself to a picture that will be around the market for a while, too."
But as Hollywood's summer rolls on, the competition gets stiffer. In two weeks, Warner Bros. opens the highly anticipated monster movie "Godzilla."
Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for box-office tracker Rentrak, said that shouldn't pose problems for the Marvel juggernaut.
"In the summer, two weeks is a lot of time between blockbusters," Dergarabedian said. "You don't see this kind of consistency in a particular genre that often."
"Spider-Man" follows Marvel's "Captain America: The Winter Soldier," released by Disney, by just a month. (The "Captain America" sequel is still in the top 5, with $7.8 million in its fifth week.)
The marketplace made way for "Spider-Man" over the weekend with no other new wide releases. Sony's "Heaven Is for Real" continued to appeal to faith-based audiences, hauling in $8.7 million in its third week.
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Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Rentrak.
1. "The Amazing Spider-Man 2," $92 million ($116 million international).
2. "The Other Woman," $14 million ($19.5 million international).
3. "Heaven Is for Real," $8.7 million.
4. "Captain America: The Winter Soldier," $7.8 million ($10 million international).
5. "Rio 2," $7.6 million ($24.5 million international).
6. "Brick Mansions," $3.5 million ($3 million international).
7. "Divergent," $2.2 million ($9.8 million international).
8. "The Quiet Ones," $2 million.
9. "God's Not Dead," $1.8 million.
10. "The Grand Budapest Hotel," $1.7 million ($8.6 million international).
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Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at international theaters (excluding the U.S. and Canada) for films distributed overseas by Hollywood studios, according to Rentrak:
1. "The Amazing Spider-Man 2," $116 million.
2. "Rio 2," $24.5 million.
3. "The Other Woman," $19.5 million.
4. "My Old Classmate," $19 million.
5. "The Great Hypnotist," $14 million.
6. "Frozen," $11.1 million.
7. "Qu'est ce qu'on a fait au Bon Dieu?!," $11 million.
8. "The Fatale Encounter," $10.5 million.
9. "Captain America: The Winter Soldier," $10 million.
10. "Divergent," $9.8 million.
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