Walt Disney Co. said the third “Pirates of the Caribbean” film set a box-office record for an opening. Not so, Sony Corp. responded less than two hours later: Its “Spider-Man 3” is the champ.
Disney said “Pirates” set a six-day global record of $404 million, topping the $383 million of “Spider-Man 3.” Sony said Disney included a seventh day of sales and that on that basis, “Spider-Man 3” took in $418 million.
The unusual public clash between two of Hollywood’s biggest studios illustrates how they try to create a buzz that will draw audiences. The dispute also casts a light on box-office accounting procedures that allow companies to cherry-pick statistics to support their claims.
“Saying it’s the biggest movie is a way to generate business,” said Bill Mechanic, former head of News Corp.’s Twentieth Century Fox studio.
In the “Spider-Man”/”Pirates” argument, Sony and Disney may both be right because of the way studios obtain and parse their box-office numbers. Sony is the biggest U.S. studio in box-office receipts and Disney is the third largest.
Sony Pictures, the Culver City, Calif.-based unit of Tokyo-based Sony, struck first, saying in a May 7 media release that “Spider-Man 3” had set a global “weekend” record. Weekend in this case covered six days, because the film opened on Tuesday, May 1, in Tokyo. Receipts from a film’s first three days, usually Friday through Sunday, are the normal U.S. benchmark.
Burbank, Calif.-based Disney, the second-largest U.S. media company, responded in kind, saying on May 29 that over its first six days, “Pirates” brought in more than “Spider-Man.” Sony promptly issued a statement by e-mail challenging Disney’s numbers, saying they included “irregularities” such as receipts from previews in “at least” two countries, Italy and France.
“In essence,” Disney was counting seven days of revenue, Sony said in the statement.
Disney stands by its numbers, saying it’s customary to include overseas previews and that they added just $1.4 million to the total. The company’s box-office reporting “has been completely and thoroughly accurate and transparent,” Mark Zoradi, Disney’s distribution and marketing chief, said in an e-mailed statement.
The companies have leeway in picking revenue figures as well as the days included. For about 80 percent of U.S. theaters, distributors receive numbers from data companies Nielsen EDI and Rentrak Corp. Studios are free to use the higher number.
The Nielsen and Rentrak figures aren’t made public. Sallie Olmsted, a spokeswoman for Portland, Oregon-based Rentrak, said the company wouldn’t comment. Tim Ganser, vice president for international sales for Los Angeles-based Nielsen, also declined to comment.
