Spider-Man 3 keeps climbing the box office charts and has recorded the biggest weekend movie debut in North America with a haul of $148 million US, according to studio estimates.

Columbia Pictures, the movie's distributor, estimated Sunday that the latest adaptation of the comic book hero, directed by Sam Raimi and starring Tobey Maguire, has beat the previous debut record of $135.6 million held by last summer's Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.

Spider-Man 3, starring Tobey Maguire, broke box office records in 16 international markets as well as North America.
(Columbia Pictures/Associated Press)

"Sam Raimi is a genius," said Amy Pascal, co-chair of Sony Pictures, which produced the film. "I could have never envisioned this.… This is beyond my wildest dream."

The movie had already smashed records for best North American opening-day returns ($59 million US) and had the best one-day global box office sales for Friday — $104 million US.

Not only that, it has shattered a worldwide opening record set in 2005 by Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith,which made $254 million in its first week. Spider-Man 3 has grabbed $373 million US in its first six days.

Variety magazine points out the reason for the film's popularity could be that it is showing on more screens than any previous film, playing in 4,252 cinemas in North America.

It also broke the ceiling on opening-day box-office hauls in 16 international markets, after debuting May 1 in other countries such as Japan, France, Germany and South Korea.

The film reunites Maguire with co-stars James Franco (as his old friend Harry, now an enemy of the web-slinger) and Kirsten Dunst as Peter Parker's girlfriend Mary Jane.

Two new villains, Sandman (Thomas Haden Church) and Venom (Topher Grace), have been added to a plot that has Spidey exploring his darker side after the superhero is infected with extraterrestrial goo.

With files from the Associated Press