Spider-Man has caught India in its web, breaking box office records for foreign films.

The superhero saga earned 67m rupees (�940,000) in its first four days of release - and made more in its first weekend than any Hollywood movie yet released in India.

The word of mouth is electric for Spider-Man

Uday Singh, Columbia Tristar

"It's just amazing. Spider-Man has rewritten all the previous records of foreign films," said Columbia Tristar managing director Uday Singh.

The previous best performance for a foreign film in India was by The Mummy Returns, which grossed 42m rupees (�590,000) in its opening weekend.

Spider-Man was released in India soon after its US debut on 3 May - allowing less time for pirate copies to circulate.

Local languages

The movie opened on Friday in nearly 250 cinemas across the country.

It has also been released in three local languages - Hindi, Tamil and Telugu - as well as English.

Another factor in the film's favour has been a lack of real competitors from Bollywood.

Spider-Man is played by Tobey Maguire

The next major Bollywood releases are Hum Kisise Kum Nahin (We Are No Less To Anyone) starring legendary actor Amitabh Bachchan, which comes out on Friday, and Devdas (Pining Lover), set for release on 28 June.

There is also much anticipation surrounding the release of three movies on legendary Indian freedom fighter Bhagat Singh, the first of which will be in cinemas on 7 June.

But Uday Singh said Columbia Tristar would keep up their marketing campaign to maintain interest in Spider-Man, despite competition from Bollywood.

"We will sustain the movie as long as the consumer wants.

"The word of mouth is electric for Spider-Man, with children being the key audience," he said.

And an Indian film business analyst said: "I do not see Bollywood movies affecting Spider-Man at all - in fact Spider-Man has cast its web quite well and will eat into some of the biggest Bollywood movies."