Advertisement

‘The Amazing Spider-Man 2’ will swing to a big opening

Share via

Spider-Man’s new movie may have three major villains, but it has no rivals at the box office as it kicks off the summer season.

“The Amazing Spider-Man 2,” the sequel to the 2012 franchise reboot, is expected to gross at least $95 million in ticket sales in the United States and Canada through Sunday, according to people who have seen pre-release audience surveys.

The new film from Sony Pictures has a chance to be the biggest domestic opening of the year so far, but to do so it will have to exceed the $95-million launch of Marvel Studios’ “Captain America: The Winter Soldier.”

Advertisement

For the sequel, Andrew Garfield returns as the titular character Peter Parker, and Emma Stone reprises her role as love interest Gwen Stacy. The hero with arachnid-like powers faces a trio of super villains: Electro (Jamie Foxx), Green Goblin (Dane DeHaan) and Rhino (Paul Giamatti). Its production budget has been estimated at $200 million to $250 million.

The movie has earned mixed reviews, indicated by a score of 57% “fresh” on Rotten Tomatoes as of Thursday. It was directed by Marc Webb, previously best known for making the 2009 indie hit “(500) Days of Summer.”

The web-slinging hero has been a reliable draw at the box office since 2002’s “Spider-Man,” directed by Sam Raimi and starring Tobey Maguire, took in $404 million over its lifespan in the U.S. and Canada and is still the highest-grossing Spider-Man film, domestically. The four Spider-Man films have generated a total of nearly $3.4 billion worldwide.

Advertisement

Sony is hoping to top the delivery of the first “Amazing Spider-Man,” which hauled in a total of $262 million in the United States and Canada and $490 million from overseas. It’s difficult to compare the three-day debut of “Amazing Spider-Man 2” with that of its predecessor, which debuted wide at home on a Tuesday and brought in $137 million in ticket sales over six days.

A $95-million start for the new movie, while strong, would not be the biggest kickoff from a Spider-Man film. “Spider-Man 3” opened to $151 million in 2007, and “Spider-Man 2” grossed $116 million over the four-day July Fourth weekend in 2004. The 2002 “Spider-Man” grossed $115 million in its three-day takeoff.

“The Amazing Spider-Man 2” should continue a strong run from big-budget movies based on comic book franchises. “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” has grossed nearly $650 million worldwide thus far and held the top spot on the U.S. box-office charts for three weeks before the Cameron Diaz comedy “The Other Woman” unseated it last weekend. “The Other Woman” grossed $24.8 million in its opening.

Advertisement

“Spider-Man” is off to a robust start overseas, having already generated $160 million in ticket sales after opening in multiple countries starting in mid-April.

ALSO:

TV ratings: CBS wins Tuesday night as ‘NCIS’ rises

AT&T interested in acquiring satellite broadcaster DirecTV

Viacom buys Britain’s Channel 5 Broadcasting for $760 million

ryan.faughnder@latimes.com

Advertisement

Twitter: @rfaughnder

Advertisement