1. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (July 7, 2006) -- $135.6 million
2. Spider-Man (May 3, 2002) -- $114.8 million
3. Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith (May 19, 2005) -- $108.4 million
4. Shrek 2 (May 19, 2004) -- $108 million
5. X-Men: The Last Stand (May 26, 2006) -- $102.7 million
6. Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire (Nov. 18, 2005) -- $102.6 million
7. Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban (May 4, 2004) -- $93.7 million
8. The Matrix Reloaded (May 15, 2003) -- $91.7 million
9. Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone (Nov. 16, 2001) -- $90.3 million
10. Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets (Nov. 15, 2002) -- $88.3 million

As far as reviews go, SM3 is running at 69 percent positive (or Fresh) at RottenTomatoes.com, and when you break out the best critics, the "Cream of the Crop" ratings, the review score drops to 53 percent. Here's how that compares to the first two Spidey chapters:

RottenTomatoes.com
Spider-Man -- 90 percent Fresh ("Cream of the Crop" -- 84 percent)
Spider-Man 2 -- 93 percent Fresh ("Cream of the Crop" -- 95 percent)
Spider-Man 3 -- 69 percent Fresh ("Cream of the Crop" -- 53 percent)

MetaCritic.com is another clearinghouse for reviews, but they have a different methodology. They assign each review a number from 1-100 and create an average. Here is how the Spider-Man reviews stack up there:

MetaCritic.com
Spider-Man -- 73
Spider-Man 2 -- 83
Spider-Man 3 -- 59

How much do reviews matter? Well, look at how the reviews scored for current opening weekend champion Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. RottenTomatoes.com has Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest with 54 percent Fresh ("Cream of the Crop" -- 42 percent), while MetaCritic.com pegs it at 53. In the end, not only will the reviews not matter, they're wrong. Film critics have contempt for sequels and, it's true, Hollywood has churned out a lot of lame ones. That contempt is misplaced here.

Just because it's the third Spider-Man movie, just because it cost $300 (or $500 million) and just because the masses are excited to see it, that doesn't make it bad. The stuffy, snooty critical establishment wonders why they are becoming less and less relevant? The answer is that these elite media types are out of touch with what "Joe Moviegoer" likes.

There is no questioning Spider-Man 3's drawing power overseas.

• Italy: Opening day generated $4 million, compared to $2.5 million for previous single-day champ The Da Vinci Code
• France: All-time single-day record broken with $6.8 million, besting the final Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith
• Germany: Opening day of $4.6 million; on pace to break the four-day record set by Spider-Man 2
• Japan: $3.47 million on opening day tops the first two Spider-Man movies

SM3 has also become the all-time, opening-day box-office record-holder in Belgium, Egypt, South Korea, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. I made one more round of calls to all of my studio sources today, and they are all chuckling about Sony execs who are trying to lower expectations. The Sony guys are saying, "We'll be happy with $100 million," or "Split the difference between the first Spidey ($114.8 million) and the second ($88.1 million)." Uh-huh. With $300-plus million invested in this movie, there will be execs on suicide watch if the film comes in under $120 million.

On Friday, we'll run all of the so-called expert predictions, but the Box Office Mojo Derby Averages are already posted. I have the greatest respect for the Box Office Mojo community. They follow movies and box-office history intently, and they are calling for $132.5 million. Box Office Mojo is now reporting what my insiders told me earlier this week. Spider-Man 3 will be at a record 4,252 North American locations starting Thursday night/Friday morning at 12:01 a.m. It's not just the number of locations that is a record, it's the number of screens. With IMAX and digital included, SM3 will be on an estimated 10,500 screens!

When I add up all of these factors, my final prediction is for $135-$140 million. The record will fall. With the first major summer blockbuster "blocking the sun," so to speak, Warner Bros. is hoping that they can squeeze a few dollars out of Curtis Hanson's poker romance Lucky You, which is being released "in the shade." With a Total Aware of 64 percent in industry tracking (Males Under 25, 47 percent; Males 25 Plus, 63 percent; Females Under 25, 70 percent; and Females 25 Plus, 76 percent), this picture has a shot at $10 million, but that's its ceiling.

Here are my Final Predictions for May 4-6:
1. Spider-Man 3 (Sony) -- $137.5 million
2. Lucky You (Warner Bros.) -- $8.6 million
3. Disturbia (Paramount) -- $5.2 million
4. Fracture (New Line) -- $4.2 million
5. The Invisible (Buena Vista) -- $4 million
6. Blades of Glory (Paramount) -- $3.9 million
7. Next (Paramount) -- $3.6 million
8. Hot Fuzz (Rogue) -- $3.7 million
9. Meet the Robinsons (Buena Vista) -- $3.5 million
10. Are We Done Yet? (Sony) -- $2.1 million