Sony Pictures Shatters a Record at the Box Office

Sony Pictures Entertainment shattered an industrywide box-office record this weekend, exceeding more than $1.29 billion in domestic ticket sales for 2002. The figure is even more significant because the year isn’t over, said Dan Marks, president of Nielsen EDI, a box-office tracking firm.

In addition, the $1.3 billion does not include international and other ancillary markets, such as television and DVD.

Sony has had six No. 1 films this year, Marks said.

This is the first winning streak the studio has seen since 1997, when it set the industrywide record at $1.27 million.

The new mark is due in large part to the phenomenal success of “Spider-Man,” which broke box-office records its first weekend and has made more than $400 million domestically.

The studio, which distributes films from Columbia Pictures, Joe Roth’s Revolution Studios and Screen Gems, had several other high-grossing films this year, including the Adam Sandler comedy, “Mr. Deeds,” and the blockbuster sequel “Men in Black 2”--both of which have topped $100 million domestically. In addition, Vin Diesel’s “XXX,” which came out Aug. 9, has grossed an estimated $84.9 million.

Sony, which has had a spotty track record at the box office for the last several years, has spent more than $700 million in production and marketing costs for this summer’s blockbuster movies.