Joel Siegel's the Morning After
Critics didn't get "Spiderman 3," but moviegoers certainly did.
May 7, 2007 — -- I hate to say it, but I told you so.
Actually, I love to say it. "Spidey 3" broke all previous box office records this past weekend. $148 million domestic gross ("Pirates 2" did $136 million) and the biggest worldwide opening ever, an amazing $375 million, breaking "Star Wars 3's" $254 million by $121 million. (Around the world? Add Spidey's $148 million domestic to $225 million in 107 countries; "Spidey 3" set box office records in at least 26 of those countries including Italy, Japan, South Korea and China.)
OK, what does it mean?
The foreign box office is going to be huge this summer for action films, especially sequels. The Indian and Chinese and Russian markets are opening up and, as I said in my review, most Hollywood films play better where people don't speak English.
Will "Shrek 3" or "Pirates 3" break Spidey's record in the next three weeks?
No.
Main reason: Spidey had no competition for anyone's box office dollars, and was able to set a record for number of theaters because there was no competition. But when Shrek opens, Spidey will still be there. When Pirates opens Spidey AND Shrek will be there.
Will there be a "Spiderman 4"? I heard Tobey Maguire say he's ready to consider it. There would be a "Spidey 4" even without him. Too much money.
And the rest of summer at the movies? Lookin' good.
I make a point of not reading anyone else's reviews before I see a film and settle on mine but I saw "Spidey 3" so early I was able to read some other critics and I was surprised: They just didn't get it.
One critic pointed out Kirsten Dunst can't sing. No, no, no! Her character can't sing. And I thought it was perfect.
When the symbiote turns Spidey and Peter inside out, more than one critic turned on Sam Raimi for making Peter a loutish, very un-hip hipster. He did. I thought it was hysterical, Peter Parker, boy geek, making moves on strange women in the street (who are repelled), dressed in downtown black, his hair in a half-Schickelgruber combed over his forehead.
If the critics didn't get it, the fans did.
Yes, too many villains, too much story, too many good guys andnot as good as "Spidey 2," but what a lot of fun at the movies.
