The Amazing Spider-Man Off to "Healthy" Box-Office Start—Yes, Already

Webslinger reboot with Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone grosses estimated $50.2 million in 13 overseas markets; opens Stateside on Tuesday

By Joal Ryan Jul 01, 2012 8:13 PMTags
The Amazing Spiderman, Spider-Man, Andrew GarfieldColumbia Pictures

The Amazing Spider-Man is off and flying. 

In 13 overseas markets this weekend, the superhero reboot grossed an estimated $50.2 million. 

"This is a very healthy start," BoxOffice.com editor Phil Contrino said Sunday.

Spider-Man's studio, Sony, opted to describe the opening as "fantastic." 

Moviegoers in India, Korea, Japan and elsewhere got the jump Friday on U.S.-based Spider-Man fans, who can't catch the film Stateside until midnight Tuesday at the earliest.

In India, The Amazing Spider-Man scored the biggest opening ever for a Hollywood film, its studio said. In Korea, the reboot bested the debut there of The Avengers. In Japan, it accounted for nearly all of the country's Saturday and Sunday ticket sales.

International success is, and isn't, a sign a Hollywood film will make good back home, too.

The Avengers, for one recent example, got off to a monster start overseas en route to a history-making run at the domestic box office. But Battleship, for another, fizzled here after a solid launch in 26 countries.

Most promising for The Amazing Spider-Man is that its international debut earned better-than-favorable comparisons to the franchise's Tobey Maguire era.  

In India and Korea, the Andrew Garfield-Emma Stone reboot outdid the respective opening weekends of Spider-Man 3. In Vietnam, the movie outgrossed the entire run of the same sequel.

"For whatever reason, the [original] Spider-Man trilogy never performed quite as dominantly in the international marketplace," David Mumpower of Box Office Prophets said in an email. "…For The Amazing Spider-Man to launch like this internationally is a tremendous relief for Sony."

At least until the next pressure test begins—in less than 36 hours.