For the past six days, Sony’s The Amazing Spider-Man has held the top spot at the daily box office. It should surprise no one, therefore, that the reboot easily netted the weekend prize as well; earning an estimated $65 million from 4,318 locations. That gives the film a new domestic total of $140 million, a number that’s higher than early projections but lower than past entries in the Spider-Man series. Worldwide, the film has now earned a reported $341 million, which is not too bad for reboot...

Title

Weekend

Total

1

The Amazing Spider-Man

$65,000,000

$140

2

Ted

$32,590,000

$120.2

3

Brave

$20,160,000

$174.5

4

Savages

$16,162,000

$16.1

5

Magic Mike

$15,610,000

$72.7

6

Madea’s Witness Protection

$10,200,000

$45.8

7

Madagascar 3

$7,700,000

$196

8

Katy Perry: Part Of Me

$7,150,000

$10.2

9

Moonrise Kingdom

$4,641,000

$26.9

10

To Rome With Love

$3,502,000

$5.2

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Last Tuesday, one of 2012’s most hotly debated titles swung in to theatres. You are, no doubt, familiar with objections to The Amazing Spider-Man, such as: “It’s too soon to try to reboot a franchise that is only a decade old!” After all, did Hollywood think we would line up to see another Peter Parker origin story when Sam Raimi’s trilogy was still fresh in our minds?  Yes. Yes, they did. And many among us happily obliged, helping The Amazing Spider-Man secure a bigger-than-expected opening of $35 million on July third and one of the top five Independence Day weekends in history.

But how to quantify those numbers? Should we think of The Amazing Spider-Man in terms of past reboots, in which case its box office looks impressive; or in terms of the numbers generated by Raimi’s series? Either way the results are not particularly satisfying - especially considering that, unlike most comparable titles, over 40% of The Amazing Spider-Man’s earnings came from 3D screens.

After Tuesday’s premiere, the film that was most often cited in comparison to The Amazing Spider-Man was 2007’s Transformers. One of the past decade’s only high-profile releases to debut on a Tuesday (the same pre-July-Fourth Tuesday, in fact), Transformers entered the conversation when The Amazing Spider-Man topped $27.8 million to claim the all-time Tuesday opening record. After that debut, however, the Amazing Spider-Man fell behind the bots; ending its first six days short of Transformers before adjusting for inflation or 3D prices.

After that, Batman Begins began to replace Transformers in The Amazing Spider-Man’s box office reports. That made sense: in 2005 Batman Begins re-launched the comic franchise in much the same manner as director Marc Webb’s new Spidey.  Comparing The Amazing Spider-Man to Christopher Nolan’s first crack at the Bat also made the new film look like a big hit. Batman Begins made $48.7 million on its first weekend, or $57.3 million adjusted for inflation. In terms of other reboots, The Amazing Spider-Man also topped the $52.5 million opening of Superman Returns (on the 2006 July Fourth weekend) and the $55.1 million of last June’s X-Men: First Class. None of those films were presented in 3D, however, and none were considered big hits in their time.

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I probably don’t have to remind you that Sam Raimi’s three Spider-Man films were considered big hits in their time. Spider-Man broke records when it debuted to $114.8 million in May of 2002 while Spider-Man 2 set a July Fourth high with its $88.1 million launch two years later. Though that record was broken by Transformers: Dark of the Moon last year, it should be noted that each of the past’s Spidey films have grossed over $330 million here in the US and at least $780 million worldwide. International audiences are going to play a big part in determining if the new film is a financial hit as well. So far it’s off to a great start with a reported $201.6 million internationally and a worldwide total of $341.2 million.

After reading all that it may surprise you to learn that The Amazing Spider-Man was not the only new film at this weekend’s box office. Indeed, director Oliver Stone’s latest drama, Savages, opened in 2,628 locations where it earned an estimated $16.1 million. That’s a bit off from Stone’s last feature, 2010’s Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, but on track with pre-release projections for Universal’s counter-programmer.

The news was not as good for pop star Katy Perry. Her 3D concert feature, Katy Perry: Part Of Me was the weekend’s clear loser, taking in just $7.1 million from its 2,730 venues. That’s less than 2009’s Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience, a film widely considered to be the nadir of the concert movie genre. On a slightly more positive note, Part Of Me did manage to top last summer’s premiere of Glee The 3D Concert Movie, if you consider that positive.

Coming in a strong second after The Amazing Spider-Man, Seth MacFarlane’s Ted continues to shine. The R-rated comedy fell just 40% from its first place finish last weekend, putting it over $120 million in just ten days. Pixar’s Brave also saw a solid hold on its third weekend in theatres, dropping just 41% for a new domestic total of $174 million. At the other end of the top ten, Woody Allen’s To Rome With Love saw enough from its second-week expansion into 806 locations to secure tenth place with $3.5 million.

Overall, the box office was up almost 30% over last year when Transformers: Dark of the Moon was enjoying its second weekend at number one. Next weekend brings the US debut of Ice Age: Continental Drift, the fourth film in the animated series that has been burning up international screens for the past week.

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