BEIJING, April 24 -- Columbia Pictures' "Spider-Man 3" will make its debut on the Chinese mainland May 2, two days ahead of its North American release.

    Cinemas in big cities like Beijing and Shanghai are all geared up for the screening of the movie.

    ¡°Box office takings are expected to exceed 50 million yuan (US$6.4 million) across the country and could reach 100 million yuan,¡± Wu Hehu, vice general manager of Shanghai's United Cinema Lines, told the Shanghai Daily.

    China Film Group Corp., which bought the movie to China, has prepared 500 copies, the most it has ever made for a foreign movie, the newspaper said.

    Directed by Sam Raimi, the movie is the third installment of the "Spider Man" series with the same stars, Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst.

    The movie combines secrets, vengeance, love, and forgiveness. In the story, based on the legendary Marvel Comics series, Peter Parker has to overcome his personal demons to handle his duties as a superhero. He even becomes involved in a love triangle.

    Compared with the previous two movies, "Spider-Man 3" makes the hero more human and in some scenes he cries.

    Audiences can choose to see the original edition with subtitles or a dubbed version.

    The world premiere of "Spider-Man 3" was held in Tokyo last Monday.

    "Spider-Man" was first screened in August 2002 followed by "Spider-Man 2" in June 2004.

(Source: Shenzhen Daily/Agencies)