Spider-man spins a box office record

Spider-Man, with a record £80m (€128m) debut, has become the new superhero of film franchises - and may even give Star Wars a run for its money as the biggest hit of 2002.

With positive reviews and appeal to older and younger audiences, Spider-Man is virtually assured of becoming one of the top-grossing films ever.

The productions it has to beat - in terms of US takings - are Titanic (€673m), Star Wars (€516m), ET the Extra-Terrestrial (€487m), Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (€484m) and Jurassic Park (€400m).

The film, in which Tobey Maguire stars as the web-slinging hero from the Marvel comic book, sees its first real competition on May 16 when Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones opens.

But the Star Wars film will be hard-pressed to put up opening-weekend numbers approaching those of Spider-Man.

Attack of the Clones debuts on a Thursday, which could reduce its Friday-to-Sunday receipts because the most eager fans will have already seen it. And distributor 20th Century Fox is opening Attack of the Clones in about 3,000 cinemas, 600 fewer than Spider-Man.

Spider-Man easily surpassed the previous best debut set last year by Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and became the first film to hit $100m (€109) in just three days.

‘‘In the heart of hearts, at least for me, I was looking at Harry Potter thinking that was as big as one can get. How could you get in that neighbourhood?’’ said Avi Arad, chief executive of Marvel Studios.

‘‘But your friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man came to the neighbourhood and took it over.’’