‘Spider-Man’ Pulls Crowds Into Its Web

Testifying to both the power of a comic book superhero and the blockbuster potential of the megaplex, the action adventure “Spider-Man” smashed box office records this weekend, taking in an estimated $114 million. It’s the first film to go over $100 million in a three-day opening weekend and tops the previous record holder, “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” by more than $20 million.

Even though “Spider-Man” opened on more than 7,500 screens, lines for the film snaked around the block at theater complexes around Southern California and the rest of the country. The film, made by Sony Corp.’s Sony Pictures Entertainment, averaged $31,535 per screen; a film that averages a third as much is considered a roaring success.

In the megaplex era, audiences could catch “Spider-Man” virtually every half an hour. At the new Pacific Grove multiplex in L.A., adjacent to the Farmers Market, five of 14 screens were given over to the film, which was screening every 30 minutes from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. On Friday all shows were sold out by 3 p.m, according to the managers.

“I had to see it opening weekend,” said 19-year-old Eugene Kim of Los Angeles’ Koreatown, who was about to go into a midafternoon screening Saturday with 10 friends who had preordered tickets Thursday. Jonathan Zeidman, 18, of Westwood, was in line with his sister Jacqueline, 19. He had already seen “Spider-Man,” having secured one of the few seats Sony Pictures handed out to the public for the film’s star-studded premiere last Monday.

“We came last night, but we couldn’t get in,” Jacqueline Zeidman said. Added her brother, “I’m a big fan of the [comic] books. And I thought it was well-cast, and Sam Raimi did a great job of directing.” Asked whether he’d pay to see it yet again, he said, “Yeah, I’m coming back with my friends.”

Mark and Jennifer Dos Santos saw “Spider-Man” on opening night at Universal Studios Cinema at Universal CityWalk, where it was playing on six of 18 screens. The couple arrived at the movie theater at 7 p.m., but the earliest tickets they could buy were for the 10:15 show. The seven shows between those times had already sold out, said Jennifer Dos Santos, 27.

“It was pretty crazy just trying to get through that, but it was totally worth it,” she said. Added her husband: “It was a really cool audience to go with, because they really got into it.”

With megaplexes fast replacing individual theaters, studios can open big films on more and more screens. (“Harry Potter,” for example, opened on 8,200 screens last November.) Four of the top five opening weekends are for films that opened within the last year; the only exception is 1997’s “The Lost World: Jurassic Park.” Heretofore unheard-of opening-weekend grosses have become increasingly common because of megaplexes that can offer up as many screens as the traffic will bear and, in many cases, the possibility of ordering tickets in advance.

“I heard of megaplexes that were having as many as 30 screenings per day of ‘Spider-Man,’” said Paul Dergarabedian, president of the industry tracking firm Exhibitor Relations. “Technology has made it possible for one print to be shown simultaneously on two screens, through a process called interlocking.”

Even so, the record-shattering numbers for “Spider-Man” show the character’s appeal to a wide spectrum of the audience, many of whom had waited years to see the conflicted comic book hero come to the screen.

“It all started with Stan Lee,” who co-created the character for Marvel Comics, said Amy Pascal, chairwoman of Columbia Pictures. “He created a character who has lived in people’s hearts for 40 years. Sam Raimi took that and with Tobey Maguire [in the title role] made it into a great movie that realized its potential.” The film opened Friday to generally positive reviews.

Gerald Sansolis, 22, said he and a friend bought their tickets online to make sure they weren’t turned away by a sellout at the Burbank 14 box office. “We wanted to see it since, like, last year,” Sansolis said.

Sony bought the rights to “Spider-Man” three years ago, after a year of negotiations, and spent a reported $120 million to produce the film and at least $50 million to market and distribute it. The payoff was quick; on Friday “Spider-Man” had the best opening day ever, taking in $39.3 million, a record it quickly outdid Saturday when it climbed to $43.7 million, according to Sony marketing and distribution chief Jeff Blake. That was about $10 million more than “Harry Potter’s” single-day record. Sunday receipts were estimated to be about $31 million.

Geoff Ammer, Sony senior marketing executive, said Sunday that “Spider-Man” added theaters throughout the weekend and played to a wide demographic, almost equally male and female and evenly split between older (over 25) and younger patrons. “The exit polls were very strong across the board,” Ammer said. That’s unusual among recent action-oriented blockbuster films, which generally target young male audiences.

Alex Nachum, 11, of Beverly Hills, had just seen the film at the Pacific Grove with 20 of his friends as part of his birthday celebration and gave it “two thumbs up. The best part was Kirsten Dunst,” who plays Spider-Man’s romantic interest.

Brock Klein, 50, and James Trivers, 53, also enjoyed the film. Klein said Maguire was “an inspired choice” for the lead. “He played it like an actor,” Trivers said, “bringing human behavior to a superhuman context.”

Sony’s Blake said “Spider-Man” could rake in an additional $30 million to $40 million by Thursday. And even if the movie’s business declines by 50% this coming weekend--as is common for films with huge openings--it would still surpass $200 million by Sunday. That’s still a long way from the all-time box office champ, “Titanic,” which grossed more than $600 million in the U.S.

Hollywood hit action films have traditionally grossed as much or more overseas. Over the weekend, “Spider-Man” broke records in Southeast Asia, Blake said. By conservative estimate, “Spider-Man’s” worldwide gross should be double its U.S. take. Videotape, DVD, television and merchandising sales would then elevate the film’s total haul over the $1-billion mark.

“Spider-Man” kicks off the lucrative summer season in high style in what has already been a banner year for movies, with box office revenue running about 15% ahead of 2001. The movie industry records about 40% of its annual admissions during the May-to-early-September period. With high-powered sequels to “Star Wars,” “Men in Black” and “Austin Powers” due over the next two months, the industry is hoping to better the record $3.06 billion collected last summer. “We’re off to a pretty rousing start,” Dergarabedian said.

In the last few years, Hollywood has entered what many are calling the “franchise era,” with the movie divisions of major conglomerates increasingly reliant on “event” films and the sequels they spawn for financial viability. Even before the premiere of “Spider-Man,” Sony had won commitments from Maguire, Raimi and other key players to a sequel, which starts shooting in January for release in summer 2004. Pascal said she is going to draw upon Lee’s existing material to help fashion future “Spider-Man” installments.

Sony, which has had its share of ups (“Charlie’s Angels,” “Men in Black”) and downs (“Godzilla,” “Ali”) in recent years, is hoping to use the success of “Spider-Man” to dominate the summer. “We had 20 million people this weekend viewing our trailers, which is very important,” Blake said. Among those trailers were Sony’s sequels to “Stuart Little” and “Men in Black,” as well as the Adam Sandler comedy “Mr. Deeds.”

For now, though, “Spider-Man” is the only game in town. Eric Delgado, 25, of Los Angeles, was part of the crowd lining up at Edwards South Gate theaters on Friday night long before the movie was to begin. Delgado, suffering from a cold, complained to the managers: “Do you expect me to wait outside?” But wait he did. Said Delgado: “It was mayhem.”

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Richard Natale is a freelance writer; Sufiya Abdur-Rahman is a Times staff writer.

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Highflying Films

The three-day box-office totals for the top five opening weekends.

*--* Movie Year Gross (in Millions) “Spider-Man” 2002 $114* “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” 2001 90.3 “The Lost World: Jurassic Park” 1997 72.1 “Planet of the Apes” 2001 68.5 “The Mummy Returns” 2001 68.1 “Rush Hour 2” 2001 67.4

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* estimated

Source: Exhibitor Relations Co.