Spider-Man hits Hollywood

The movie world is predicting a year of record receipts, following the remarkable performance of Spider-Man in its opening weekend.

The eagerly awaited live action adventure, based on the comic-book hero, has already smashed box-office records, it was confirmed yesterday. Spider-Man took £77.6million in its first three days in the US and Canada, breaking both single-day and weekend totals set by Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone - and becoming the first movie to break the $100million barrier on its opening weekend. The first instalment of the Potter series banked £61.4million in three days last November.

Analysts at UBS Warburg now expect the year as a whole to be a record-breaker for the movie world. One, Christopher Dixon, said: 'The industry is very healthy going into what promises to be a big summer for film.

'Weekend box office receipts rose 48 per cent from a year earlier, despite very tough comparisons.'

As Spider-Man conquered the box office, a gunman robbed a New York store of rare comics worth £14,000 including a first issue of The Amazing Spider-Man.