Spider-Man nets $155m in first six days

SPIDER-MAN 2 pulled in a record $180 million in its first six days in US cinemas and obliterated other box-office highs over the Fourth of July weekend.

The film’s haul was well above the previous best six-day opening of $147mset last year by The Matrix Reloaded.

Nerd-turned-superhero Peter Parker, back to battle the villains of New York, had already won rave reviews.

Parker, played by Tobey Maguire, abandons plans to hang up his Spider suit and go back to a normal life to do battle with the multi-tentacled Dr Octopus.

USA Today raved: “With special effects so convincing you don’t even think about them, a head-case hero and a three-dimensional villain who is his equal, Spider-Man 2 has something for everyone.”

The New York Daily News said: “The chases and battles are stunningly rendered with Spidey ping-ponging off skyscrapers and landmarks, courtesy of special effects.”

Kirsten Dunst, James Franco and other co-stars return in Spider-Man II, and Alfred Molina plays Spider-Man’s new nemesis. Last weekend’s top film, Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11, held up strongly, taking in an estimated $17m from Friday to Saturday. Doubling its cinema count to 1,725, Morre’s attack on Bush pushed its total to $56.1m and has a good shot at becoming the first documentary to top the $100m mark.

No other wide-release films debuted against Spider-Man 2, but three new movies did well in narrow release. Kevin Kline’s Cole Porter film biography De-Lovely took in $289,000 from Friday to Sunday for an impressive average of about $18,000 a cinema.

In 20 cinemas, Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy’s Before Sunset grossed $229,000, averaging about $11,500 a cinema.

The film reunites Hawke and Delpy with director Richard Linklater in a follow-up to their 1995 sleeper hit, Before Sunrise.