Spiderman 3 opened in Europe and Asia first - what gives?

I haven't been psyched to see a movie in a long time. And that may be because, in recent years, looking forward to see a movie has been a little risky.

Lost in Space. I thought it was going to kick ass. The critics and the box office kicked ITS ass.

Ghost Rider. I read the comic as a kid. But the movie was an incredibly bad piece of shit. More like "Sleep rider" because it was boring. Or "Ghost actor" because Nicholas Cage seemed barely there.

Serenity. I am an incredible fan of Firefly and I believe it is absolutely the best sci fi show ever made. Better than the Outer Limits (old and new versions) better than ST Next generation, better than ST Voyager, better than the reimagined Battlestar Galactica, better than Stargate SG1, and better than Stargate: Atlantis (and I love all these shows). But as much as I love Firefly, Serenity fell short.

In short, I've learned through a series of painful disappointments (those aren't the only ones, there have been many) that its not good to get your hopes up too high in anticipation of a movie release, particularly when the release is a sequel (I didn't have this problem with the Lord of the Rings trilogy because after the first installment, I became a believer in the director, actors, and production staff for LOTR).

However, with Spiderman, I fully expect the best. Spiderman was great, Spiderman 2 exceeded the original, and if three disappoints I will, no doubt, suffer irreparable psychic anguish.

Anyway, the reason for the post. Why is this movie being released in Asia and Europe ahead of the U.S. ? Asia I can understand to some extent. To take the wind out of the bootlegger's sails. But Europe? Perhaps this is to build excitement here. If so, I think its working.

'Spider-Man 3' Hauls in $29M in Opening