David Bank, managing director at RBC Capital Markets, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that the real money from “Spider-Man 3” will be made in DVD sales and toys.
“Spider-Man 3” earned $148 million in its opening weekend in the United States, eclipsing the $135 million “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” pulled in during last summer’s debut.
“The kingmakers here are the toys – everything you sell that’s going to be associated with Spider-Man,” Bank said Monday. “Marvel benefits from that as do any of these moviemakers. It’s hard to lose money based on all the ancillary opportunities…How they do at Christmas on DVD and toy sales – that’s the massive lever mover.”
He said Sony, which distributed the latest “Spider-Man” movie and Marvel Entertainment, which holds the rights to the super-hero character, are diversified, but Dreamworks is not and is betting heavily on “Shrek 3.”
Marvel Publishing, a subsidiary of Marvel Entertainment, is one of the world’s largest comic book publishers. It has about 5,000 characters, including Captain American, X-Men, The Incredible Hulk and Spider-Man.
“Short interest in Marvel was heavy going into this weekend – something like 23 days to cover,” Bank said. “With a blowout at the box office, you probably don’t want to be short at this moment.”