'Spider-Man' crawls up list of all-time hits

It took just 10 days for "Spider-Man" to muscle its way onto the Top 30 list of highest-grossing films.

A $71.4 million haul in its second weekend pushed "Spider-Man" to a total of $223 million, No. 29 on the all-time domestic list. By the end of next weekend, "Spider-Man" should be pushing $300 million and will be on the verge of cracking the Top 10 all-time list.

"It's staggering, really mind-blowing to see a movie get there so quickly," says Paul Dergarabedian, president of the box-office tracking firm Exhibitor Relations. "Some films take months to do that. Some [films take] years to do that with reissues."

"Star Wars" creator George Lucas has conceded "Episode II" won't match the record debut of "Spider-Man," which opened on about 1,500 more screens than "Attack of the Clones" will.

But big results expected for "Star Wars" will pad the box office in a year when Hollywood revenues are running 19 percent ahead of the record pace of last year, when the industry took in $8.4 billion. Domestic grosses are already at $3 billion for 2002, three weeks before they hit that point a year ago, Mr. Dergarabedian said.

You've read 3 of 3 free articles. Subscribe to continue.
QR Code to 'Spider-Man' crawls up list of all-time hits
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0516/p17s02-almo.html
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe
CSM logo

Why is Christian Science in our name?

Our name is about honesty. The Monitor is owned by The Christian Science Church, and we’ve always been transparent about that.

The Church publishes the Monitor because it sees good journalism as vital to progress in the world. Since 1908, we’ve aimed “to injure no man, but to bless all mankind,” as our founder, Mary Baker Eddy, put it.

Here, you’ll find award-winning journalism not driven by commercial influences – a news organization that takes seriously its mission to uplift the world by seeking solutions and finding reasons for credible hope.

Explore values journalism About us