LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) - The blockbuster scored record opening weekends in nearly 30 countries following its release last week, and re-couped the estimated 258 million dollars it cost to make within the space of a few days. A statement from Sony Pictures Entertainment on Monday said final worldwide earnings were a staggering 382 million dollars, the highest opening in motion picture history. Analysts said they expected the film to become only the fourth in history to generate takings in excess of one billion dollars, after "Titanic," "Lord of the Rings: Return of the King" and "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.
" "'Spider-Man 3' has just flown past what was expected of it," said Gitesh Pandya, an analyst with boxofficeguru.com. "It has crushed the opposition.
" Sony said its film topped the box-office in 107 territories around the world and set a new record for the biggest opening weekend of all time in 29 countries, including the United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea and China. The latest film starring Tobey Maguire as the web-spinning Marvel Comics hero broke old records by astounding margins, Sony said, with domestic takings even higher than those initially reported on Sunday. In the United States, its take of 151 million dollars easily eclipsed the previous record, set last year by Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," which earned 135.
6 million in its first three days. In South Korea, the film's earnings were three times the business of the previous record holder (Korean film "The Host") while in Japan its take was 44 percent higher than the old opening weekend record. "This weekend, more than 80 percent of the moviegoers around the world chose Spider-Man 3 and we couldn't be more overwhelmed or elated by the global reception to this movie," said Jeff Blake, vice-chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment.
"I don't think it will come close to beating 'Titanic,' because that film made its money in unique ways, over a longer period of time," Pandya said. "But from what I've seen this weekend I expect it to pass one billion dollars." "They've just resigned themselves to defeat -- so 'Spider-Man 3' has got a clear run at the box-office for a few weeks," he said.
"It's as close to a monopoly as you're ever likely to see." The latest "Spider-Man" is the first in a series of blockbuster sequels due to hit screens this year, with animated favorite "Shrek the Third" and "Pirates of the Caribbean 3" expected later this month. "You've had millions of people in cinemas seeing the ads this past week -- those people are going to be coming back for the other major films of the summer," he said.
The spectacular success of "Spider-Man 3" has all but guaranteed further instalments in the popular franchise, with Sony executives boldly predicting multiple sequels down the line. "There'll be a fourth and a fifth and sixth and a seventh," Pascal told entertainment journal Daily Variety. "As many stories as Peter Parker has to tell, we'll do sequels.
" The possibility of "Spider-Man 3" being the last in the series had been raised by the film's star Maguire who told interviewers earlier this year: "To me it seems like this is a natural point for the team to break up." "It feels like a trilogy to me and it feels like the end," he added.
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