While it seems that we've been seeing a lot of Spider-Man across various mediums, the push to promote Spider-Man 3 is just about to get ramped up to another level as on April 16 Sony will start a series of premieres of the movie.
Tokyo is the first stop, and from there it goes to London on April 23 and then travels to Rome, Berlin, Madrid, Moscow, Stockholm and New York on April 30 for "Spider-Man Week in NYC." The movie is set to launch on May 4 globally.
The costs of the production is already above the $250 million mark, with millions more about to be dispersed in the marketing push. This has prompted some to talk as if there will be some uncertainty to the success of the film.
First of all, the majority of films today are considered successful if they break even in theater sales. The vast majority of profits are expected to come from add-on sales.
When you consider the DVD, Gaming and Toy market, this Spider-Man will be successful and profitable even if the movie doesn't do as well in the theaters as past Spider-Man movies have. In saying that, many in the industry believe that it could even surpass the first two installments based upon the opening date itself.
The only real question for the movie is how much cannibalization may happen between it and "Shrek the Third" and "Pirates of The Caribbean: At World's End," which are coming out right after the Spider-Man debut. That is a legitimate variable that won't be known until it happens.
But even if there is some cannibalization, the movie will make money for Sony no matter what happens there. It's just that expectations are so high that anything short of huge sales will be portrayed as a failure. Profits were down in their film division last year so there is added pressure on Spidey to carry them through.
Another interesting look at the Spider-Man franchise is its connection to others that link to the hero. When you think of Marvel (MVL), Hasbro (HAS), game maker Jakks (JAKK) and video game maker Activision (ATVI) all counting on big sales to increase the shareholder value and profits of their companies, it's amazing to think that it's all based upon a comic book character.
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