As widely expected, "The Amazing Spider-Man" topped the box office at the busy weekend with 65 million U.S. dollars in North American ticket sales, according to studio estimates released by Hollywood.com on Sunday.
The Sony's reboot of the "Spider-Man" franchise debuted in 4, 318 screens in U.S. and Canada Tuesday ahead of the U.S. Fourth of July holiday, earned a strong start with 7.5 million dollars in midnight screenings, the same to its 2007 predecessor "Spider-Man 3."
With great reviews and solid word-of-mouth, the film has taken in 140 million over six days in North America and 200 million dollars internationally, rolling up an estimated 341.2 million dollars worldwide.
Directed by Marc Webb, the film changed the leads to Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone, replacing Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst. Garfield played Facebook's co-founder Eduardo Saverin in the Oscar winner "The Social Network."
The reboot outperformed two other freshened franchises. "Batman Begins" opened to 48.7 million dollars in its first three days in 2005, and "X-Men: First Class" debuted to 55.1 million last year. But the first Spider-Man film, directed by Sam Raimi, was the first to open with over 100 million dollars in domestic market.
The second place was Universal Pictures' comedy "Ted," which still had a strong performance for the second week. The R-rated film, about a man and his foul-mouthed teddy bear, has taken in roughly 32.6 million dollars at its second weekend and made a 10- day total to 120.2 million dollars.
Pixar and Disney's animation "Brave" about a princess' epic adventure also did well. It followed with 20.2 million dollars to stay at the third spot, putting its three-week domestic total to 174.5 million dollars.
With the boost by "The Avengers," which has grossed 611 million dollars domestically, Disney became the first studio to pass the 1- billion-dollar mark at the 2012 box office in U.S. and Canada markets.
Universal's "Savages," directed by "Wall Street" director Oliver Stone, opened in fourth place with a 16.2-million-dollar premiere weekend. The R-rated crime drama, based on Don Winslow's best-selling novel, tells a story about a pair of West Coast weed dealers getting tangled up in a Mexican cartel's drug business after they kidnap their friend. But it only received a C+ on CinemaScore.
The fifth went to Warner Bros. "Magic Mike," which added another 15.6 million dollars in its second week to bring its total to 72.8 million dollars.
Rounding up top 10 movies at the North America box office at the weekend are: "Tyler Perry's Madea's Witness Protection" (10.2 million dollars), "Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted" (7.7 million dollars), "Katy Perry: Part of Me" (7.2 million dollars), "Moonrise Kingdom" (4.6 million dollars) and "To Rome with Love" ( 3.5 million dollars).
