"Spider-Man 3" broke box-office records with the highest-ever grossing opening weekend in movie history. At $382 million in ticket sales worldwide, the webslinger nearly tripled the opening take of the previous record-holder, "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest." Of course, the word "worldwide" is the key: Columbia/Sony intentionally did a same-day release of the film in 107 territories of the world. Aside from the massive amounts of hype the movie received, as well as the skyrocketing cost of tickets, the same-day release allowed Columbia to capitalize on the interest of moviegoers and thwart both pirates and disillusioned reviewers.

In a statement, Sony Pictures Entertainment vice chairman Jeff Blake said, "This weekend, more than 80% of the moviegoers around the world chose Spider-Man 3 and we couldn't be more overwhelmed or elated by the global reception to this movie. We have always strived to deliver films with great stories that would excite and entertain audiences and credit for that goes first and foremost to our filmmakers and cast: director Sam Raimi, our partners at Marvel, our producers Laura Ziskin, Avi Arad, and Grant Curtis, and our stars Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Thomas Haden Church, and Topher Grace. Spider-Man 3 builds on the first two films and satisfies the extraordinary expectations of fans everywhere. This was truly a massive achievement not only for Sony Pictures, but the film industry as a whole. Summer is finally here and we expect that moviegoers everywhere will find that the 2007 season will be one to remember."

IMAX receipts had a say in the totals too, and were responsible for nearly $5 million.  Personally, I still blame the ticket prices.