By Zanub Saeed
To the surprise of no one, Sony Pictures' "The Amazing Spider-Man" came in first place during the Fourth of July weekend, raking in over $140 million in the United States and Canada since its release on July 3 in conventional theatres and IMAX.
"The Amazing Spider-Man," already confirmed to be the first of a trilogy starring British actor Andrew Garfield as the titular superhero, is a reboot of the early 2000s three-part film series previously helmed by actor Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker and his famous alter-ego. The last "Spider-Man" movie starring Maguire and Kirsten Dunst, and helmed by Sam Raimi, was released in 2007.
"To expect the kind of numbers the first 'Spider-Man' did or the second or third would have been kind of reaching," Hollywood.com analyst Paul Dergarabedian, told the Associated Press. "For a reboot that people definitely were on the fence about initially, I think this is a really strong performance."
Over the three-day weekend "The Amazing Spider-Man," according to the Associated Press, brought in $65 in the domestic box office, adding to the initial bank it made last Tuesday, where it made over $35 million. Overseas the film has already made a total of $201.6 million, bringing the total tally for "The Amazing Spider-Man" $341.2 million.
"This was never modeled or was never meant to be 'Spider-Man 4.' This was always a relaunch with a new cast and different stories to tell, and quite frankly, it succeeded beyond our imaginations," Rory Bruer, Sony's head of distribution, told the Associated Press.
Rounding off the weekend box office was the comedy "Ted," written by Seth MacFarlane of television's "Family Guy" fame and starring Mark Wahlberg and Mila Kunis, which made another $32.6 million as it fell into second place in its second weekend of release, and the star-studded Oliver Stone drama "Savages" which made $16.2 million. The film stars John Travolta, Salma Hayek, Benicio del Toro, and Blake Lively.
Singer Katy Perry's docu-drama "Katy Perry: Part of Me," which was also released this weekend, came in at number eight in the box office with a disappointing $7.2 million, noted the Associated Press.
