Thousands of advance ticket sales for the multi-million-dollar Hollywood remake of Spider-Man have been snapped up ahead of its UK premiere next week.
Cinemas have reported 80 per cent of sales via the internet for the first general screenings of the movie from 14 June. Earlier this month it smashed box office records in America when it became the first ever film to take $100 million in its opening weekend.
Warner Village Cinemas has already made nearly £50,000 from 6,200 advance ticket sales nationwide. A spokesman said: "Die-hard fans who want to be the first to see the film are seeking out tickets online even before we have started advertising. Tickets are going at the rate of a few hundred per day. This isn't as high as Star Wars but we are expecting a huge surge once the publicity kicks in."
North London's Finchley Road Warner Village is the best performing so far, with nearly 250 seats booked on the first night.
Figures for Odeon sales were unavailable, but a spokeswoman said Spider-Man would be one of the year's highest-grossing movies: "We are expecting the film to follow its US success. Nearly all our cinemas are showing it, something that only happens with really big block-busters like Star Wars and Harry Potter."
Odeon West End, venue for the UK premiere on 5 June, is devoting two screens and 10 showings a day to the film.
UCG Cinemas said enquiries about the movie started several weeks ago. A spokeswoman said there had been a huge amount of interest in the chain's three preview screenings.
A spokeswoman for Barbican Screen said: "Sales have been encouraging but they do not show a runaway smash yet. We feel confident that come the other side of this Bank Holiday when the advertising begins they will start flying out of the box office."
The film stars Tobey Maguire as the superhero and Kirsten Dunst as his love interest. It took £28.2 million on its first day in the US, beating the £22 million record set by Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone last autumn.
In the story, Spider-Man, who started life in Marvel Comics, is the alter-ego of student Peter Parker who acquires superhuman powers when he is bitten by a genetically modified spider.
A hit with US critics, the $80 million film version is darker than previous big-screen comic-book remakes and is expected to appeal to fans of the original.
