It doesn't appear that Sony/Columbia's Spider-Man movie is a 'flash in the pan.'  After its record-setting opening weekend (see 'Spider-Man Blows Away Harry Potter'), the Spider-Man film has continued its stellar performance at the box office, posting all-time record grosses of $11 million on Monday and $10 million on Tuesday.  The film should make at least $155 million in its first week -- another record -- far eclipsing Harry Potter's previous 7-day record total of $129.9 million. 

 

How will Spidey fare this weekend?  The general trend for 'blockbuster films' over the past few years would indicate a precipitous decline in the film's second weekend in the theaters  (see 'Best in Shows II').  The conventional wisdom is that almost everyone who wanted to see the film was accommodated during the opening weekend, when it played on over 7,000 screens, but Spider-Man's strong performance on Monday and Tuesday appears to indicate that there were lots of folks who weren't able to get in to the show they wanted over the weekend.  There are also some other factors that could indicate at least one more strong weekend box office performance for the webslinger.  Those include the strong reviews, which have broadened the appeal of this comic book-based film, as well as the news reports of the film's record-setting box office debut.  It's likely that lots of people, who might not normally go out of their way to check out a comic-book based film, will want to see what all the fuss is about, and then there are the fans who wanted to avoid the crowds and long lines during the opening weekend.  Actually, given the paucity of any real competition for the film this weekend, the lines for Spider-Man could be fairly long once again.

 

Attendance at many of last summer's blockbusters declined more than 50% in their second weekend run.   While industry experts don't expect quite that steep of a drop, many do expect a fall-off of at least 45% from last weekend's stratospheric highs.  Others think that the drop off could be less, especially in view of this weekend's feeble competition, but a drop of 45% would still yield a $64 million take and drive the film's 10-day total to $225 million.

 

Early reports on sales of Spider-Man merchandise have been very positive.  Bookstores are reporting excellent sales on Spidey trades, and last weekend's Free Comic Book Day appears to have been a very positive promotion that fed off the excitement from the Spider-Man opening (see 'Comic Kings' and 'Joe Field').  The New York Post quoted Toy Industry experts, who predicted that the film's success would lead to the sales of over $1 billion in related merchandise.  Though the majority of those sales will be in channels outside the direct market, pop culture retailers should see an increase in business and eventually a substantial influx of new customers thanks to Spidey's stellar on-screen performance.