With more than $50 million already snared in its worldwide web, “The Amazing Spider-Man” should ignite the Fourth of July box office frame: Sony is looking to collect $110 million-$120 million in six days domestically.
The superhero pic launches today at 4,315 locations, including approximately 3,000 3D runs, of which 308 are Imax. Pic’s projected start would position it at the high end of franchise reboots, including last summer’s “X-Men: First Class,” which opened with $55.1 million and cumed $146.4 million Stateside.
Warner Bros.’ “Batman Begins” earned $48.7 million during its debut weekend in 2005 — though that pic bowed midweek, with $72.9 million in five days.”Spider-Man” has two full weeks of summer playtime before Warner’s “The Dark Knight Rises” bows July 20. That should be plenty of time for “Spider-Man” to reach respectable heights, since midweeks will boost grosses well beyond Independence Day.
Also bowing this weekend is Oliver Stone’s crime thriller “Savages,” which Universal launches Friday at around 2,800 playdates. Early tracking pegs the pic’s opening in the low teens.
Internationally, Sony continues to broaden “Spider-Man” into major markets like Australia and throughout most of Europe, as the Euro Cup soccer tourney ended Sunday.
The “Spider-Man” franchise rarely disappoints: The first Spidey installment kicked off summer 2002 with an insane $114.8 million opening weekend for a domestic cume of $403.7 million. Two years later, “Spider-Man 2” debuted midweek before the Fourth of July weekend, collecting $152.5 million in five days and cuming $373.4 million domestically. The franchise’s third (and final) installment to star Tobey Maguire kickstarted a $336 million Stateside run with $151 million, a record-setting debut that now reps the fifth-highest U.S. opening weekend.
Aiming to breathe new life into the franchise after a five-year hiatus, Sony cast Brit thesp Andrew Garfield as Spider-Man, pairing him with Emma Stone as the superhero’s high school sweetheart Gwen Stacy. Marc Webb (“500 Days of Summer”) helmed.
Interest in the reboot has been consistent among men, with the studio hoping that women spark to the love story between Spidey and Stacy.
“Spider-Man” will compete with Paramount’s “Katy Perry: Part of Me” for teen and tween girls. Par’s concert docu launches Thursday at approximately 2,500 domestic locations; the studio sneaked the film Monday night at just 100 engagements, hoping to drive social-media chatter among Perry’s most devoted fans.
