WHAT A WIDE, WIDE, WIDE, WIDE WEB! 'SPIDEY 3' SPINS $151M IN U.S. GROSS & $382M IN WORLDWIDE GROSS. BIGGEST WEEKEND OPENINGS ON RECORD EVER!

MONDAY AM:  Sony has just revised its numbers upwards, if you can believe it. Here is studio‘s final tally: SM3 made a record-breaking $382 million worldwide, shattering opening weekend records in 29 countries. Of that, $231 million was tallied from international ticket sales, with $151 million coming from the film’s record-setting debut in North America. Playing in 4,252 domestic locations, the film took in an average of $35,540 per screen. The film also unspooled at more than 8,900 locations abroad. In addition to being #1 for the weekend in all 107 territories around the world in which it opened, Spider-Man 3 set a new mark for the biggest weekend of all time in 29 countries, including the United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, China, Italy, Mexico, and Brazil. The film set new records for the biggest single worldwide day (Saturday, May 5 – $117,631,328), biggest international opening ($231 M), and biggest worldwide opening ($382 M). Many of the opening frame records were broken by astounding margins. In Korea, Spider-Man 3 did three times the business of the previous record holder (Korean film The Host) and bested the previous-best Hollywood film (Warner’s The Matrix Reloaded) by more than four times. In Japan, Spider-Man 3 broke the old record opening weekend by 44%; in Brazil, by 48%, in Mexico by 37%; and in Italy, the film beat the previous record holder The DaVinci Code from Sony by 24%. Among the domestic records set by Spider-Man 3 are biggest opening weekend ($151,116,516), biggest single day (Friday, $59,841,919), and biggest per-theater average for a wide release ($35,540). The film also set a new record for the largest domestic gross in IMAX theaters, with $4.8 million. So Peter Parker delivered a knock-out punch to Jack Sparrow and Darth Vader!

SUNDAY AM: Spider-Man 3 has shattered the U.S. opening weekend box office record set by Pirates Of The Caribbean 2: Dead Man’s Chest and the global box office record set by Star Wars Episode 3: Revenge Of The Sith.

With Friday’s precedent-setting U.S. box office of $59.3 million and Saturday’s record $51+ million and Sunday’s projected $37.7 million, the Sony mega-blockbuster spun the biggest American weekend movie opening of all time. This is a historic Hollywood moment and sensational start to the summer movie season. The figure for U.S. gross was $148 million for Friday through Sunday at 4,252 theaters, the widest release ever, which easily beat the previous record-holder Pirates of the Caribbean 2 and its $135.6 million. (I have been saying that Sony execs were dreaming in the neighborhood of a greedy $150 mil for SM3‘s U.S. debut, and they got it by showing the pic almost round-the-clock ever since 12:01 AM Friday!) At the same time, Spidey 3 scored the biggest worldwide opening ever with $375 million, upsetting the previous record of $254 mil by Star Wars Episode 3. The overseas estimates from 107 countries total $225 mil; pic was the biggest film debut ever in at least 26 countries including Russia, China, Italy, South Korea, Japan. SM3 also shattered all the North American records (U.S. and Canada) for biggest opening day ever, biggest 2nd day of release and biggest 3rd day of release. Though SM3 fell -14% Saturday compared to Friday, that number without the midnight shows is actually +4%. This means that, comparatively, the threequel almost did in two days what the original Spidey did in three days back in 2002. Now, let’s look at the exit polls: SM3‘s opening weekend audience was 54% male, 46% female, and 63% under 25 years old. Over 50% of those surveyed said they liked the film better than Spider-Man 1 and 2 (although reviewers did not; see below). The film played broadly, from ages 8 to 80, and sellouts were reported nationwide throughout the weekend. Friday to Sunday box office was up over 70% at U.S. theaters compared to last year — and Spidey 3 captured 80% of the total American gross of $180 mil.

SATURDAY AM: Peter Parker (aka Tobey Maguire) bested Jack Sparrow (aka Johnny Depp) at the box office Friday. I’m told Spider-Man 3 beat Pirates Of The Caribbean 2 for the biggest U.S. opening day ever in film history. The threequel shattered the $55.8 million mark set by P2 last year and took in $59 million. Based on the first day’s performance, the studio believes the film will delivers in the +/- range of $135 mil to $145 mil for its first three days of release. A better estimate will emerge Sunday morning when the studio will release its full report with exit surveys and international figures to date. In addition, Sony estimated that SM3 grossed approximately $104 million worldwide yesterday, the highest single day gross in global box office history. The film delivered $45 million Friday in overseas ticket sales. This opening weekend, SM3 will definitely make more than SM1 ($114.8 mil) or SM2 ($88.1 mil) at U.S. theaters. “Today’s early returns have been staggering,” an insider explained to me Friday night. (FYI: Pirates 2 did $55.8 mil on its Friday bow, then did $44 mil on Saturday.) Domestic box office looks to be up over 60% from the same weekend last year when Mission Impossible 3 kicked off the summer movie season with a $47.7 mil gross for the first weekend in May. “So far, Hollywood’s high stakes gamble is paying off,” one studio exec told me today: this will be the highest grossing summer in Hollywood history, with predictions of $4.5 billion box office. Peter Parker set house records at several theaters across the country where sell-outs were common throughout the day Friday. The two highest grossing theaters in North America were the Lincoln Square (which includes an IMAX theater) in New York, which took in $158,158, and the Arclight in Los Angeles, which reported $144,926 worth of ticket sales. This is the first word of how the webbed wonder would fare in domestic box office as opposed to foreign where Spidey 3 set new records in Asia and Europe. Sony execs were unnerved by the only so-so reviews of the pic in this country — that is, until more than 300 of the approximate 1,000 midnight showings Sony arranged with U.S. theaters Friday AM sold out online at Fandango, which sells movie tickets to more than 15,000 U.S. screens. And let’s not forget that SM3 will be shown in 4,252 theaters, the widest release ever.

Now, back to those reviews: according to RottenTomatoes.com, of the 143 reviews counter, “Fresh” were 89, “Rotten” were 54, making the average rating: 6.2/10. Among that site’s “Cream of the Crop” most influential reviewers, only 45% gave the pic a good review for an average rating of 5.6/10. So I went back and looked at Rotten Tomatoes’ final tally for Pirates 2, last summer’s highly anticipated blockbuster that also received only so-so feedback: of the 204 reviews counter, “Fresh” were 110, “Rotten” were 94, making the average rating 6/10. Among Cream of the Crop, only 42% gave the pic a good review for an average ratings of 5.3/10. But P2 went on to make $423.3 mil domestically in 4,133 theaters so the reviews didn’t matter. As for Spider-Man 1, its final domestic tally was $403.7 mil, and SM2 $373.5 mil.

As if anyone cares, the only other major movie opening Friday was Warner Bros’ Lucky You, a 2-year-old pic directed by Curtis Hanson and starring Drew Barrymore and Eric Bana and dumped opposite SM3. The poker pic only managed 6th place with $2.6 mil this weekend from 2,525 theaters. Given that I’m told the film cost $58 million, plus another $34 million in promotion and advertising, this is a major wipeout for Warner Bros. (Only comforted by the fact that it was co-financed with Village Roadshow). Money guys tell me the writedown should be around $40 million. Here’s the rest of the Top 10 numbers:

1. 1. Spider-Man 3 did $59.3 mil Fri, $51 mil Sat and an est $37.7 mil Sun. (148M)
2. 2. Disturbia earned $2.1 mil Fri, $2.2 mil Sat and an est $1.1 mil Sun. ($5.5M)
3. 3. Fracture made $1.1 mil Fri, $1.5 mil Sat and an est $910K Sun. ($3.6M)
4. 4. The Invisible earned $1.2 mil Fri, $1.2 mil Sat and an est $640K Sun. ($3.1M)
5. 5. Next took in $975K Fri, $1 mil Sat and an est $630K Sun. ($2.7M)
6. 6. Lucky You made $990K Fri, $1 mil Sat and an est $585 Sun. ($2.6M)
7. 7. Meet The Robinsons did $640K Fri, $1.1 mil Sat and an est $735K Sun. ($2.5M)
8. 8. Blades Of Glory earned $825K Fri, $915K Sat and an est $460K Sun. ($2.2M)
9. 9. Hot Fuzz made $700K Fri, $835K Sat and an est $465K Sun. ($2M)
10. 10. Are We Done Yet? did $485K Fri, $750K Sat and an est $465 Sun. ($1.7M)