Spider-Man 3 pulls in Record $148 million in 3 Days

Spider-Man caught just about everyone in his web. The superhero's latest adventure, "Spider-Man 3," smashed box-office records with $148 million in its first three days, according to studio estimates Sunday.

That put it ahead of the previous record debut of $135.6 million set last summer by "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest."

With $59.3 million on opening day Friday, Sony's "Spider-Man 3" broke the single-day box-office record, also held by "Dead Man's Chest" with $55.8 million in its first day.

Since it began rolling out overseas on Tuesday, "Spider-Man 3" has taken in $227 million in foreign markets, bringing the film's worldwide total to $375 million. In just days, the movie has grossed $117 million more than its whopping $258 million production budget.

In just two days, it also nearly matched the $114.8 million opening weekend of 2002's "Spider-Man," which had held the debut record until "Dead Man's Chest" opened.

"Spider-Man 3" reunites director Sam Raimi, who also made the previous two installments, and stars Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst.

"Sam Raimi is a genius," said Amy Pascal, Sony Pictures co-chairman. "I could have never envisioned this. What I was hoping was we would just break the `Spider-Man 1' record. This is beyond my wildest dream."

The overall box office soared from "Spider-Man 3," with the top-12 movies taking in $176.6 million, up 77 percent from the same weekend a year ago, when "Mission: Impossible III" opened with $47.7 million.

"Spider-Man 3" outdid that movie by $100 million and grossed more in each of its first two days than "Mission: Impossible III" did over the full weekend.

Also among the records smashed by "Spider-Man 3" was a $4.8 million domestic gross at huge-screen IMAX theaters, topping the previous best of $3.6 million set by "300" in March.

Playing in a record 4,252 locations domestically, "Spider-Man 3" averaged a whopping $34,807 a theater.

Domestically, "Spider-Man 3" could enter its second weekend Friday with $200 million already in the bank. The film has the market largely to itself for the next week and a half, with no major competition arriving until DreamWorks Animation's "Shrek the Third" arrives May 18.

With "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" and an onslaught of other potential blockbusters following, studio executives predict this could be a record summer for modern Hollywood.

"Spider-Man 3" packed in enormous crowds that were captive audiences viewing trailers for those upcoming flicks.

"If you could imagine the best kickoff to what could be the biggest summer of all time, this is the scenario," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers. "This will have a ripple effect on audiences exposed to the marketing for all the other summer films."

The gap between "Spider-Man 3" and the No. 2 movie — DreamWorks and Paramount's "Disturbia" at $5.7 million — was larger than any other movie's debut. "Disturbia," which had been No. 1 for three-straight weekends, raised its total to $59.9 million.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Media By Numbers LLC. Final figures will be released Monday.

1. "Spider-Man 3," $148 million.

2. "Disturbia," $5.7 million.

3. "Fracture," $3.4 million.

4. "The Invisible," $3.1 million.

5. "Next," $2.8 million.

6. "Lucky You," $2.5 million.

7. "Meet the Robinsons," $2.46 million.

8. "Blades of Glory," $2.3 million.

9. "Hot Fuzz," $2.1 million.

10. "Are We Done Yet?", $1.7 million.

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[tags : unusual wierd bizzare]

World Record - Longest Piano Concert in Japan

Japanese musicians overcame fatigue and a major earthquake to set the record for the world's longest concert on Saturday, playing 184 hours non-stop in a program that ranged from The Beatles' classics to Japanese traditional harp music.

Over 900 musicians aged 6 to 89 took turns performing in the 9-day marathon — with breaks of no more than 5 minutes between acts — at a small railway station in Hikone city, western Japan, according to organizer Kuniko Teramura, 51.

An official from the Guinness Book of World Records was on hand to certify the record at 10 a.m. Saturday, she said.

"The longest concert by multiple artists was achieved by Kuniko Teramura and friends at Toriimoto Station ... from 23-31 March 2007," read a copy of the certificate obtained by The Associated Press.

The previous record for longest concert was set in Canada five years ago and lasted 182 hours, according to the Guinness Web site.

On Sunday, a magnitude 6.9 quake in northwestern Japan jolted the stage — but didn't stop a determined pianist from ploughing on with her tune, said Hiroshi Mizutani, 51, another organizer.

A break in the performance would have ruined the challenge, because musicians were not allowed to stop playing less than two minutes into a song, said Mizutani, whose Oldies band played three times during the concert.

"This pianist was amazing. The whole place was shaking quite badly but she went right on playing," Mizutani said. "Even an earthquake couldn't stop us."

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[tags : unusual wierd bizzare]

New Guinness Record for Kebab

Students from the Malaysia Multimedia University in Putrajaya cheering upon hearing the announcement that they had broken the Guinness Book of World Records for the world's longest barg kebab by creating one that was 2.016km long.

The last world record was set in Denmark for a barg kebab that was 1.5km long. More than 250 students (left) made the kebab which required 3.5 tonnes of chicken meat costing RM24,000.

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[tags : unusual wierd bizzare]

Taiwanese set off 8.1-mile firecracker

TAIPEI, Taiwan - Organizers lit up a 8.1-mile string of explosives in a southern Taiwanese county Sunday, hoping to create the world's longest firecracker in a record-setting attempt expected to last two hours.

TV footage of the Chinese New Year celebration in Tainan County, dubbed "Legend of the Fire Dragon," showed rapid flashes of bright red explosions that created huge wafts of white smoke.

Throngs that had gathered to witness the spectacle wore masks, goggles, and even motorcycle helmets to protect themselves from the pollution.

The firecracker was expected to take two hours to finish burning.

The record-breaking attempt needs to be verified by Guinness World Records.

Taiwanese newspaper United Daily News reported that Spain holds the current world record for the longest continuously burning firecracker at 7 miles.

The record wasn't listed on the Guinness World Records official Web site, which only contains partial listings.

The festivities in Taiwan Sunday marked the last day of the 15-day Chinese New Year celebration. Other locals set aloft lanterns in the sky.

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[tags : unusual wierd bizzare]

Pre Valentine's Day World Record : 6,124 couples kiss

MANILA, Philippines - More than 6,000 couples kissed simultaneously at midnight Saturday in the Philippines with organizers of the event claiming to have set a new world record.

Organizers of the annual pre-Valentine's Day celebration said they broke the record held by Hungary, where 5,875 couples kissed simultaneously in Budapest in 2005.

"We broke the record, it's great," said Howard Belton, a Briton who spearheaded the event.

With fireworks, confetti, a giant TV screen, and red balloons as the backdrop, couples locked lips and hugged for 10 seconds following a countdown outside a Manila mall.

An unofficial tally showed 6,124 couples kissed simultaneously, organizers said, but the number needs to be verified by an independent auditor and approved by Guinness World Record officials before it becomes a world record.

"It was our first time to join the celebration and we participated to be able to beat the record of Hungary," said Katherine Hermosa, who was with her boyfriend.

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[tags : unusual wierd bizzare]

World's Largest Hotel Aquarium

AquaDom - the world's largest cylinder aquarium is located in the heart of Berlin, the AquaDom forms a striking centrepiece for a new multi-purpose development, which includes the designer DomAquaree Hotel, retail, recreational, work and living spaces.

Water is the architectural theme of the complex and AquaDom, at an impressive 16m deep and 11m in diameter, is the highlight of this experience. Lucite International provided the high performance materials used by Reynolds Polymer Technology (RPT) to manufacture the 150 tons of acrylic panels, which were needed to complete the aquarium.

The aquarium has 26 acrylic panels bonded together seamlessly for the outer cylinder and 15 panels for the inner cylinder. RPT designed and created these monolithic viewing panels using Lucite Specialty Monomers and Resins to ensure consistent and optimum optical clarity for anyone viewing the fish held in the AquaDom. And visitors have the unique experience of ascending through a column of water as they ride a split-level glass lift as they move through the centre of the aquarium.

Holding 264,000 gallons of saltwater, it is stocked with 100 different species and a total of 2,500 fish, including Golden Puffer, Porcupine Fish, Moray Eels, Angel Fish and Butterfly Fish. The variety of fish has been specifically chosen due to the different depths at which each will swim within the aquarium, which is raised 8m above the ground for visitors to admire.

The water inside the aquarium circulates completely once an hour. Commercially certified divers are used for the cleaning operation and as they ascend from the bottom must decompress at 'safety stop intervals' due to the sheer depth of water.

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[tags : unusual wierd bizzare]

Oldest mother (67 years) Gives Birth to Twins

A 67-year-old Spanish woman became the world's oldest mother after she gave birth to twins in the northern city of Barcelona on Saturday, a hospital official said.

The woman, whose identity was not revealed by Sant Pau hospital, gave birth by Caesarean section, having undergone in vitro fertilization in the United States, according to the national news agency EFE.

The previous holder of the oldest-mother record was 66-year-old Romanian citizen Adriana Iliescu, who gave birth to baby Eliza Maria in January 2005.

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[tags : unusual wierd bizzare]