Spider-Man Shatters All Records With $151 Million

Spider-Man caught just about everyone in his web. The super hero’s latest adventure, “Spider-Man 3,” smashed box-office records with a $151 million haul in its first three days, according to studio estimates Sunday morning.

It made $382 million worldwide.

That put it ahead of the previous all-time weekend debut of $135.6 million set last summer by “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest.”

On Friday alone, with $59.3 million on opening day, “Spider-Man 3” also broke the single-day box-office record, also held by “Dead Man’s Chest” with $55.8 million — the biggest opening day ever in the history of the film industry, according to tracking firm Media By Numbers, Sony Pictures, and Access Hollwood film producer Scott Mantz.

That put it ahead of the previous all-time weekend debut of $135.6 million set last summer by “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest.”

On Friday alone, with $59.3 million on opening day, “Spider-Man 3” also broke the single-day box-office record, also held by “Dead Man’s Chest” with $55.8 million — the biggest opening day ever in the history of the film industry, according to tracking firm Media By Numbers, Sony Pictures, and Access Hollwood film producer Scott Mantz.

But with the new movie comes new surprises, including three actors making their mark on the franchise for the first time.

Topher Grace, Thomas Haden Church, and Bryce Dallas Howard join “Spider-Man” regulars Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst and James Franco for the latest chapter, and all three told Access how thrilled they are to be new additions to the amazing “Spider-Man” legacy.

“I was a huge fan of the first two,” said Topher Grace, who plays the villainous Venom. “I was a huge fan of Spider-Man the comic book when I was a kid, so I can only talk about how passionate I was to [do the film]. This has already been one of the best experiences of my life.”

“It was like stepping into a family, honestly,” said Bryce Dallas Howard, best known for her work as the star of M. Night Shyamalan’s “The Village” and “Lady In The Water.” She added, “They’ve worked together for 5 years or something like that, and they were incredibly welcoming and unbelievably collaborative, so I felt really excited to be a part of the team.”

Thomas Haden Church, who was nominated for an Oscar for his work in “Sideways,” echoed Howard’s sentiments about feeling welcome on the set, adding, “You know, I think they like having new blood brought on. I think it probably kind of invigorates them in a very specific way.”

Church plays the part of Sandman, a classic Spider-Man villain whose body is made completely out of sand — morphing into virtually any shape he can dream of, which sounds amusing on paper — until you witness the concussive blows he can deliver.

And Church worked very hard to morph his own body into an imposing figure. “I spent a lot of time, thousands of hours, clocked in at about 2 years of training. I started 9 months before we started shooting, and then shooting my character spanned 16 months. And, of course, I had to maintain that physical appearance.”

Grace, a rather thin young actor [who rose to stardom as Eric Forman on “That 70’s Show”], faced the same daunting task as Church. “It was crazy,” he confessed. “The worst part was that I had to work out for 6 months before the film started. I don’t know if this is going to come as a surprise to you, but I haven’t worked out so much in the past. It was mostly 2 hours a day 6 days a week, but even more it was eating. I really needed to put on muscle weight — so, a lot of protein.”

The movie gave Howard her own physical challenge to overcome — dancing. “Well, we practiced forever,” she said, referring to a scene where her character, Gwen Stacy, dances with Peter Parker (Spider-Man’s alter ego). “When I finally saw it, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, we had like 4 months of rehearsal for my little bit,’ but [Tobey] was, he was just — he’s so physically adapted to everything that he does, and he’s very, very gifted in that way. So it was so much fun to dance with someone who is really a dancer.”

When asked if she was good enough now to go on “Dancing With The Stars,” she was quick with a reply. “He could,” she exclaimed. “Me? No. No way.”

It turns out that dancing wasn’t the only thing Howard had to contend with — she also had to put up with Maguire’s warped sense of humor. Maguire shared a funny story about a practical joke he played on her while filming:

“I was on the back of a cart and she was driving and, you know, I just kinda jumped off the back of the cart and rolled on the ground and yelped as if I was in pain. And she looked back and was mortified, like somehow her driving dropped me, and then I got up laughing. She was actually — I almost felt bad because she really thought that she hurt me or something.”

“I’m like, Oh my God! The movie’s over! The franchise is over,” said Howard of the incident. “And yeah, he was fine, of course.”

With fans already clamoring for a 4th installment, and expressed interest from the actors (not to mention the already record-breaking international box-office for the current film), the franchise may be far from over.

“All I know is that I loved the first two films, and I would love to keep watching them — even if I’m not in them — forever,” said Grace. “Especially with this cast. I’ll tell you the first day of this film was the best for me. It’s like one of those theme parks where they say, ‘We’ll put you inside the movies,’ but I was in it. I was smiling ear to ear just to be inside a movie? a franchise, that I love so much. It was such a great experience.”

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Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Media By Numbers LLC. Final figures will be released Monday.

1. “Spider-Man 3,” $151 million.

2. “Disturbia,” $5.7 million.

3. “Fracture,” $3.4 million.

4. “The Invisible,” $3.1 million.

5. “Next,” $2.8 million.

6. “Lucky You,” $2.5 million.

7. “Meet the Robinsons,” $2.46 million.

8. “Blades of Glory,” $2.3 million.

9. “Hot Fuzz,” $2.1 million.

10. “Are We Done Yet?”, $1.7 million.

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