Halo 3 is the biggest entertainment product launch in history

Halo 3, the latest installment of one of the most popular video game franchises of all times, is launching today at midnight.

It is expected to bring Microsoft $150M in revenue on its first day. That will put it up there with the biggest opening weekend ticket sales for a movie (Spiderman 3: $151M).

Overall revenue over the lifetime of the video game is expected to hit $600M or more. Spiderman 3's total revenue (merchandising, DVD sales, ticket sales) is expected to hit $1.3B.

Where Halo 3 reigns supreme over Spiderman 3, however, is profit margin. Business analysts are expecting Halo 3 to have profit margins close to 90%, while Spiderman 3 will "only" have a 46% profit margin due to much higher production costs. The overall profit in dollars is about even between the two blockbuster products.

Update: Microsoft has now counted their money from Halo 3 launch day. The results come in as an impressive $170M as first day sales.