Director 'flabbergasted' by Spider Man 2 success

The director of summer blockbuster Spider-Man 2 is “flabbergasted” by the film’s record-breaking success at the box office, but Sam Raimi said today that he is too busy writing Part Three to relax and enjoy the victory.

The film has already outdone the original Spider Man, pulling in a record €150m in its first six days in North American theatres.

“The box office is just a surprise,” Raimi said in Tokyo, ahead of the film’s opening there on Saturday. “I’m flabbergasted.”

The Spider-Man 2 showing was well above the previous best six-day opening of €123.8mset last year by The Matrix Reloaded.

From Friday to Sunday, Spider-Man 2 took in €74.6m), missing out on the best three-day weekend record of €97m held by the first Spider-Man.

Raimi said he felt pressure to repeat the success of the original Spider Man - which has surpassed €700m in global ticket sales, making it the fifth-highest grossing film in US history – but added he was more concerned with the story than the business of marketing the film.

Raimi said he and his brother were currently working on the story for Spider-Man 3.

“We were working on it at the hotel last night and this morning,” he said. “But I don’t know what is going to happen yet.”