http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.co...r-than-1-or-2/
EXCLUSIVE: I'm told, based on early returns from midnight showings and matinees today, Spider-Man 3 is soaring towards a sensational $50 million Friday. That means it will definitely make more than SM1 ($114.8 mil opening weekend) or SM2 ($88.1 mil) at U.S. theaters its opening weekend. "Today's early returns have been staggering," an insider explained to me. (FYI: Pirates 2 did $55 mil on its Friday bow, then did $44 mil on Saturday.) This is the first word of how the webbed wonder would fare in domestic box office as opposed to foreign where Spidey 3 set new records in Asia and Europe. Sony execs were unnerved by the only so-so reviews of the pic in this country -- that is, until more than 300 of the approximate 1,000 midnight showings Sony arranged with U.S. theaters Friday AM sold out online at Fandango, which sells movie tickets to more than 15,000 U.S. screens. And let's not forget that SM3 will be shown in 4,252 theaters, the widest release ever. Now, back to those reviews: according to RottenTomatoes.com, of the 143 reviews counter, "Fresh" were 89, "Rotten" were 54, making the average rating: 6.2/10. Among that site's "Cream of the Crop" most influential reviewers, only 45% gave the pic a good review for an average rating of 5.6/10. So I went back and looked at Rotten Tomatoes' final tally for Pirates 2, last summer's highly anticipated blockbuster that also received only so-so feedback: of the 204 reviews counter, "Fresh" were 110, "Rotten" were 94, making the average rating 6/10. Among Cream of the Crop, only 42% gave the pic a good review for an average ratings of 5.3/10. But P2 went on to make $423.3 mil domestically in 4,133 theaters so the reviews didn't matter. As for Spider-Man 1, its final domestic tally was $403.7 mil, and SM2 $373.5 mil.