'SPIDER-MAN' SLINGS CASH WEB CRAWLER EXPECTED TO TOP $300 MILLION.

Byline: Greg Hernandez Staff Writer

``Spider-Man'' was expected to cross the $300 million box office mark faster than any movie ever Friday, igniting what is expected to be Hollywood's biggest-grossing Memorial Day weekend in history.

The cumulative gross for the Columbia Pictures release stood at $298 million as of Thursday and will likely climb to more than $335 million through Monday as it expands to the largest number of theaters ever.

Coupled with ``Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones'' and three promising new wide releases, box office grosses could top $200 million over the four-day period.

The film, starring Tobey Maguire as the web-slinging superhero, has smashed an increasingly remarkable number of major box office records since bounding into theaters with a stunning $114.8 million opening weekend. The movie is a live-action adaptation of the classic Marvel Comics character and also stars Kirsten Dunst and Willem Dafoe.

``The marketing really opened the picture, but the quality of the product allows it to hold on,'' said Gitesh Pandya, editor of BoxOfficeGuru.com. ``What's most remarkable is that the film hit $300 million in 22 days without the benefit of any holidays.''

The 22-day mark easily beats the previous record set three years ago by ``Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace'' which took 28 days to cross $300 million and also had the benefit of a Memorial Day weekend to add to its coffers.

Among the numerous box office records ``Spider-Man'' has set so far: the fastest movie to reach the $100 million and $200 million marks; the first movie to make more than $100 million in a single weekend; the first movie to gross more than $40 million in one day; the largest second and third weekend grosses of any film; the highest per-screen average of any wide-release film; and the first film to make $30 million in a single day during its second week of release.

``It's just been remarkable,'' said Jeff Blake, president of worldwide marketing and distribution for Columbia Pictures. ``Word-of-mouth is continuing to create a huge demand that really is defying gravity.''

Because of the film's continued popularity across all demographics, the studio took the rare step this weekend of expanding its number of theaters to 3,876. In doing so, the film broke yet another record by being booked into more theaters than any other film before it. The previous record of 3,715 theaters was set last year by the animated blockbuster ``Shrek.''

``Spider-Man'' easily ruled the box office during its first two weeks but, as expected, lost the No. 1 position last weekend to ``Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones'' which is expected hold on to the top spot this weekend as well.

But ``Spider-Man'' stands a good chance of remaining a strong No. 2 in an increasingly competitive marketplace even with several new releases such as the animated film ``Spirit: The Stallion of the Cimarron,'' the Jennifer Lopez thriller ``Enough'' and the new drama ``Insomnia'' headlined by Al Pacino and Robin Williams.

But with such impressive staying power, the prospects for ``Spider-Man'' landing among the top five biggest-grossing films of all-time are strong, Pandya said. But he said it is very unlikely that it will be able to catch top-grosser ``Titanic'' at more than $600 million.

``'Titanic' had very little competition while 'Spider-Man' opened at the onset of the summer season where every weekend there is a great new movie opening,'' Pandya said. ``But it should easily cross $400 million by the end of its run and has a reasonable chance of crossing $450 million.''