SONY PICTURES is on course to make $2 billion (£1 billion) from Spider-Man 3 – even though the film was panned by many critics.

On a visit to London last week, Sony Corporation’s Naofumi Hara said the movie has already taken more than $900m worldwide at the box office. This makes it the most successful of the Spider-Man films and one of the top 10 highest-grossing movies of all time.

Spider-Man 3 continues to take millions of dollars a week in cinemas, but the bigger revenue opportunity is from DVD sales. Hara said Sony believes it could take another $1 billion from DVDs.

The success vindicates the decision by Sir Howard Stringer, Sony’s British-born chairman, to invest an estimated $250m in making the latest instalment of the “franchise”. The prospects for another sequel are in the balance because Tobey Maguire, who stars as the eponymous hero, is not sure he wants to be involved.

BACKGROUND

• Spider-Man 3

• Spider-Man 3 - Tokyo premiere

• Shock revelation: why Spider-Man’s real name isn’t Peter Parkour

• Spider-Man 3 slams the accelerator down in pursuit of the Big Thrill

• Spider-Man climbs up to challenge Titanic

BACKGROUND

• Spider-Man 2

• Bad things come in threes

The quiet American

He's a superhero and drop-dead goodlooking, but Tobey Maguire is no troublemaker

Related Internet Links

• 2007 London Film Festival coverage

• Times Online Film Trailers

The strong performance of Sony Pictures is helping Sony as it moves into the crucial third year of Stringer’s turn-round programme. Stringer has committed to restoring operating profit margins to 5% in the current financial year, which ends next March.

However, analysts are worried by the poor sales of PlayStation 3 – the new games console that is much more expensive, and proving much less popular, than Nintendo’s Wii. The simpler Wii is outselling Sony’s PS3 by as much as four to one in some regions.

Nintendo is making 1m Wiis a month, but still cannot keep up with demand. In contrast, Sony has missed its initial targets and sales appear to be flagging.

Sony loses money on every PS3 console sold because of the expensive Blu Ray DVD player the device incorporates. This makes it a harder decision for Sony to cut the price – a move many believe is inevitable.

Some analysts believe that the losses on PS3 may overshadow Sony’s progress with its Bravia LCD television business, and could threaten Stringer’s hopes of achieving profit targets. At its results last month, Sony said it remained on track.

Hara said a number of analysts have recently turned positive on Sony’s shares, which have risen sharply since the end of last year.

Ken Kutaragi, founding father of the PlayStation business, is about to relinquish his role as chairman of Sony Computer Entertainment. He was once seen as a possible future chief executive of the parent corporation, but his reputation has been damaged by the lengthy delays in developing PS3 and its poor performance to date.

ALL-TIME BLOCKBUSTERS

Name Studio Gross earnings

1 Titanic 20th Century Fox/Paramount $1.84 bn

2 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King New Line Cinema $1.1 bn

3 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest Buena Vista/Walt Disney Pictures $1bn

4 Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s/ Sorcerer’s Stone Warner Bros $976m

5 The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers New Line Cinema $926m

6 Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace 20th Century Fox $925m

7 Shrek 2 Dream Works SKG $920m

8 Jurassic Park Universal $914m

9 Spider-Man 3 Sony/Columbia $900m*

10 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Warner Bros $892m

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