Peter Parker did it. ”Spider-Man 3″ set an industry record, with a box office take of $148 million in the U.S. during its opening weekend. The previous record was held by last year’s ”Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest,” which sold $135.6 million’s worth of tickets last July. 

Despite mixed reviews, the third movie in the ”Spider-Man” franchise seems likely to surpass the $300 million mark domestically in a matter of weeks and could wind up as the biggest hit of what’s shaping up to be a hotly contested summer of sequels.  Now analysts will be watching to see if DreamWorks Animation’s (DWA) “Shrek the Third” or Walt Disney’s (DIS) “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” can top “Spider-Man 3″ at the multiplexes of America.

But on Wall Street, the two stocks with the most to gain from Spidey-mania headed in opposite directions Monday morning. Marvel Entertainment (MVL), the company who created the Spider-Man comics and has raked in big profits during the past few years by licensing the rights to use its characters for movies, video games, toys and even a Broadway musical, fell more than 1 percent.

Shares of Sony (SNE), on the other hand, which owns the Columbia Pictures studio that released the movie, gained more than 1 percent Monday morning.

What gives? Well, Marvel has already had a nice run-up as of late, surging more than 11 percent so far this year and nearly 50 percent in the past 12 months due to optimism about the movie and the impact it would have on Marvel’s bottom line. Marvel has an agreement with Sony where it gets a cut of the movie’s box office sales.

And as FORTUNE’s David Stires pointed out last week, there may be reason to be nervous about Marvel’s future since the company, starting next year, will begin producing its own movies instead of just partnering with the big Hollywood studios.

This strategy could be a financial boon for Marvel since it would allow the company to capture more of the profits from a big hit. But it is also incredibly risky, especially since the company is using the rights to several of its characters as collateral in a $525 million debt financing deal with Merrill Lynch (MER).

Nonetheless, it will be interesting to see what Marvel’s management team has to say about the success of “Spider-Man 3″ when the company reports its results for the first quarter on Tuesday morning.  The latest exploits about the kid from Forest Hills - forget Kevin James, Spider-Man is the real “King of Queens” - won’t have an impact on Marvel’s first quarter results.

But if Marvel is able to boost its financial targets for 2007 thanks to “Spider-Man 3,” that could wind up giving Marvel’s stock some more room to run. According to estimates from Thomson Financial, analysts are predicting that Marvel will earn $1.46 a share this year on sales of $433.4 million. 

Marvel issued sales guidance for 2007 that disappointed investors and then lowered its profit forecast in February.  Yet, Marvel has been a heroic performer on Wall Street so far this year. 

We pointed out in a Stock Spotlight feature on Marvel back in February that Marvel’s stock, despite its big run-up, still was trading at a valuation that was comparable to those for other small and mid-sized media companies like Lionsgate (LGF). But in order to remain on top, the company has to spin a big web of revenue and profits to keep momentum investors satisfied.

Will the company’s friendly neighborhood box office champ deliver? Stay tuned.