“Spider-Man” continued to snare audiences over the weekend, setting box office records and breaking the $200 million mark in only nine days — the fastest ever to reach that milestone.

        The web slinger snatched an estimated $72 million Friday-Sunday, bringing its total to $223.6 million, according to Nielsen EDI, which tracks box office receipts.

        The comic-book adaptation nabbed the record for top second weekend, beating “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone's” $57.5 million. “Spider-Man” also has the fourth-highest weekend gross of all time, behind its own record debut of $114.8 million, the $90.3 million opening of “Potter” and the $72.1 million premiere of “The Lost World: Jurassic Park.”

        “Their second-week figures would have been a great opening weekend number,” says Nielsen analyst Dan Marks. “It's shattered just about every box office record by a mile.”

        After huge openings, films often nosedive by 50 percent or more in their second weekend because so many people already have seen them. “Spider-Man” dropped only 37 percent from its record debut.

        “This is one of those second weekends that's almost more impressive than the first, if that's possible,” says Paul Dergarabedian, president of box office tracker Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc.

        The Sam Raimi picture has drawn an average of $22.3 million a day since it opened, and it's $36.8 million weekday box office total is second only to “Potter.” Thursday was the superhero's weakest day, when it did $7.5 million. By comparison, seven of the top 10 films did less business than that for the entire weekend.

        In just over a week,” Spider-Man” surpassed “Ice Age” as the year's top-grossing film. “Age” has taken in $170.8 million in two months.

        Marks says that with broad demographic appeal — audiences are nearly evenly split between male and female — “Spider-Man” should hold up well next weekend, even though it faces “Star Wars, Episode II: Attack of the Clones.”

        “I'd say we have No. 2 locked up for next weekend,” says Jeff Blake, head of distribution for Sony, which released “Spider-Man.”

        Other pictures aren't exactly suffering, though. The Richard Gere adultery thriller “Unfaithful” opened to a healthy $14.2 million in 2,613 theaters, 1,000 fewer than “Spider-Man” played in. The teen comedy “The New Guy” was third with $9.5 million, followed by “The Scorpion King “with $4.4 million and “Changing Lanes,” which brought in $3.5 million.

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