Spider-Man takes a fall but still hangs tough

Story Highlights• "Spider-Man 3" already named the year's top grossing film
• Fox Atomic's cannibal-themed horror film is No. 2
• Spidey has enjoyed two weekends of low competition
• "Shrek the Third" debuts Friday, likely to take No. 1 position
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LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Even when he takes a huge fall, Spider-Man comes out on top.

Sony's "Spider-Man 3" took in $60 million in its second weekend, a hefty 60 percent drop from its record debut a week earlier but good enough to easily outdistance the competition and remain the No. 1 movie, according to studio estimates Sunday.

"After a record-breaking opening weekend, to me this is an appropriate second-weekend drop," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers. "Any studio would be happy to have a movie opening with $60 million, let alone a second weekend with $60 million."

With $242.1 million domestically in just 10 days, "Spider-Man 3" continued to beat the box-office pace of its predecessors. After 10 days, 2002's "Spider-Man" had grossed $223 million, while 2004's "Spider-Man 2" had taken in $225 million.

"Spider-Man 3" quickly became the year's top-grossing film, hurtling past "300," the Warner Bros. battle epic that has taken in $208 million.

Second-weekend drops for successful studio films typically are well below 50 percent. But "Spider-Man 3" shattered records with $151.1 million in its first weekend, making a big decline virtually inevitable since so many people already had seen the film.

"When you're in that stratosphere, we had to assume we would be in the range of a 60 percent drop," said Rory Bruer, head of distribution for Sony.

The weekend's other new movies had fair to poor openings.

Debuting in second place with $10 million was Fox Atomic's horror sequel "28 Weeks Later," a follow up to "28 Days Later" that continues the story of a virus in Britain that turns people into raging, cannibalistic zombies.

Universal's "Georgia Rule," starring Lindsay Lohan, Jane Fonda and Felicity Huffman, opened at No. 3 with $5.9 million. Lohan plays a rebellious teen who's put under the charge of her no-nonsense grandma (Fonda). (Watch Jane Fonda and Felicity Huffman discuss the movie )

Lionsgate's "Delta Farce" premiered at No. 5 with $3.5 million. Larry the Cable Guy stars in the comedy about three weekend warriors mistakenly dumped in Mexico, where they take on a gang of bandits.

The Weinstein Co. and MGM's workplace comedy "The Ex" tanked with $1.4 million, coming in at No. 12. The movie stars Zach Braff as a husband dueling with a co-worker who also is his wife's ex-boyfriend.

"Spider-Man 3" made up for an otherwise soft crop of movies. The top-12 films took in $96.9 million, up 14 percent from the same weekend last year, when "Mission: Impossible 3" was No. 1 with $25 million and "Poseidon" debuted in second place with $22.2 million.

Overseas, "Spider-Man 3" pulled in an additional $85.5 million for the weekend, raising its international total to $380 million and worldwide total to $622 million. The previous "Spider-Man" movies each took in about $800 million worldwide, a number "Spider-Man 3" should easily beat.

"Spider-Man 3" has a shot at topping $1 billion worldwide, Bruer said. Only three other movies, "Titanic," "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" and "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," have hit that mark.

After two weekends of light competition, "Spider-Man 3" faces the summer's next heavy-hitter Friday with the debut of DreamWorks Animation's "Shrek the Third," the latest adventure of the cartoon ogre.

A week later, Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" sails into theaters, the Johnny Depp action comedy joining "Spider-Man 3" and "Shrek the Third" to set up what could be Hollywood's biggest Memorial Day weekend ever.