“Spiderman 3” opened in theaters across the country and elsewhere in Asia yesterday, several days before the U.S. Costumed fans formed lines up to 150m long for the morning show at theaters in Tokyo, proving that the huge PR for the movie is paying off. Distributor Sony Pictures said that some 400,000 people saw the movie on the opening day, well above the number for the first two installments in the series. At that pace the movie looks set to meet their box-office target of ¥10 billion. In 2005, “The Da Vinci Code” was seen by 930,000 people in the first week, making over ¥9 billion. Yesterday was officially a regular work day but many people have taken Tuesday and Wednesday off to have a full 9-day Golden Week holiday. Audiences were boosted by the fact that discount tickets were available yesterday, the first day of the month and so “Movie Day”, and today, as Wednesdays are “Ladies Day”.
• Freelance announcer Nagai Minako (41) revealed yesterday that she gave birth to her second child in February. She married Hori Kazutomo (41), president of IT group Cybird in 2001 and they had their first child that year. Nagai plans to appear at a Mother’s Day even in Yokohama on May 13.