Has \u201cSpider-Man\u201d become Hollywood\u2019s most important film franchise?<\/p>\n
One could rightfully say that, duh, Peter Parker is part of Marvel, the biggest entertainment brand, so\u2026umm\u2026yeah? But the web-slinging superhero has made a pretty good case for his omnipotence after \u201cNo Way Home,\u201d the epic finale in the\u00a0Tom Holland-led comic book trilogy, obliterated pandemic-era box office records over the weekend,\u00a0debuting above initial estimates to $260 million\u00a0in the U.S. and Canada.<\/p>\n
Despite concerns over rapidly spreading COVID-19 variants, inaugural ticket sales for \u201cNo Way Home\u201d were able to reach rarified heights, and not just by COVID standards. The Sony Pictures film landed the second-highest debut in Hollywood history behind only \u201cAvengers: Endgame\u201d ($357 million). Globally, it has netted $600 million, the\u00a0third-biggest worldwide launch ever\u00a0after \u201cAvengers: Endgame\u201d ($1.2 billion) and \u201cAvengers: Infinity War\u201d ($640 million). Pandemic notwithstanding, those are some head-spinning figures.<\/p>\n
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\u201cSpider-Man joins Batman, Superman, and X-Men as the most prolific superhero series of all time. Only a dozen series of any kind have reached nine episodes,\u201d says David A. Gross, who runs the film consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research. \u201cNeedless to say, this template \u2014 an awkward introvert leads a double life flying around, using superpowers to right wrongs \u2014\u00a0works<\/i>.\u201d<\/p>\n
When it comes to comic book lore, Spider-Man strides high on the A-list. Five other superhero adaptations hit theaters this year: Disney\u2019s \u201cBlack Widow\u201d ($379 million globally to date), \u201cShang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings\u201d ($432 million globally to date), and \u201cEternals\u201d ($399 million globally to date), Sony\u2019s \u201cVenom: Let There Be Carnage\u201d ($498 million globally to date) and the Warner Bros. redo \u201cThe Suicide Squad\u201d ($167 million globally to date). After three days in theaters, \u201cNo Way Home\u201d has generated\u00a0significantly<\/em>\u00a0more money at the global box office than any of those heroes were able to gross in their entire time on the big screen. (A caveat: \u201cBlack Widow\u201d and \u201cThe Suicide Squad\u201d debuted simultaneously on streaming services, but even without a hybrid release, they wouldn\u2019t have come close to matching Spidey\u2019s ticket sales \u2014 at least not in pandemic times.) If \u201cNo Way Home\u201d sustains momentum, it could be the first COVID-era movie to cross $1 billion worldwide. That\u2019s the kind of coinage movie theaters desperately need so they can justify keeping the lights on.<\/p>\n In that respect, \u201cNo Way Home\u201d has confirmed at least one truth that has been evident since the onset of COVID-19: Multiplexes have been \u2014 and will continue to be \u2014 more reliant than ever on superhero spectacles. The latest \u201cSpider-Man\u201d movie collected a ton of money at a time when at least two Oscar-worthy films in Steven Spielberg\u2019s \u201cWest Side Story\u201d and Guillermo del Toro\u2019s \u201cNightmare Alley\u201d have tanked at the box office. Audiences are willing to go to theaters \u2014 but certainly not for any ol\u2019 movie.<\/p>\n \n That\u2019s what makes Peter Parker so important.<\/p>\n His longevity is impressive considering the character \u2014 previously portrayed by Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield \u2014 has appeared in eight standalone, live-action films in the past 19 years. (Holland\u2019s take on the teen vigilante has made several appearances in\u00a0Marvel Cinematic Universe\u00a0crossover events, such as \u201cAvengers: Infinity War\u201d and \u201cEndgame.\u201d) In the right vehicle, moviegoers may never tire of watching Spider-Man in action on the big screen.<\/p>\n In its current iteration, \u201cSpider-Man\u201d shares important DNA with Disney\u2019s sprawling and ultra-successful Marvel Cinematic Universe, which has certainly boosted the web-slinger\u2019s profile among Spandex-wearing heroes. But Peter Parker (and foes) also exist at a distance from Doctor Strange, Thor and Earth\u2019s Mightiest Heroes because Sony, which distributes the movies associated with Spider-Man and adjacent characters, has smartly used the brand equity of the MCU to spawn its own separate and expanding film franchise, one that is anchored by baddies like Venom, Morbius and Kraven. Essentially, Sony is enjoying the benefits of its relationship with Marvel twice over: It has the Spider-Man movies that exist in the MCU, and then its separate Marvel movie series.<\/p>\n And that\u2019s only the live-action space. With \u201cInto the Spider-Verse,\u201d which became a surprise box office success in 2018, and its upcoming sequel \u201cAcross the Spider-Verse,\u201d Sony has been able to web out its Spider-Man footprint through animation.<\/p>\n Already, Sony has found repeated triumphs in its own Marvel offshoot with \u201cVenom,\u201d based on the antihero played by Tom Hardy. Despite terrible reviews, 2018\u2019s \u201cVenom\u201d struck gold at the box office and collected $212 million domestically and $850 million globally. It was no fluke. The studio\u2019s sequel, 2021\u2019s \u201cVenom: Let There Be Carnage,\u201d generated $90 million in its domestic debut \u2014 a pandemic-record until \u201cNo Way Home\u201d came along. The PG-13 action adventure tapped out with $212 million in North America and $498 million worldwide, a great result for COVID times and one that likely would have been substantially higher had an extremely contagious virus not rattled the movie theater business. It\u2019s notable that even during plague times, the character isn\u2019t experiencing diminishing returns.<\/p>\n Peter Parker has been similarly resistant to franchise fatigue, at least since Holland has donned the red and blue suit. Though 2019\u2019s \u201cSpider-Man: Far From Home\u201d notched a slightly smaller opening-weekend result ($92 million) compared to 2017\u2019s \u201cSpider-Man: Homecoming\u201d ($117 million), the second installment in the Holland-led series ended its box office run as the first to cross $1 billion globally. \u201cHomecoming\u201d tapped out with a still-impressive $880 million at the worldwide box office.<\/p>\n \u201cMost big series struggle to maintain their success this late in their run,\u201d Gross adds. \u201cIn its 20th year and with its third lead actor, \u2018Spider-Man\u2019 is exploding.\u201d<\/p>\n Spider-Man is one of the most well-known comic book characters in existence. Still, box office analysts believe there\u2019s a specific reason why \u201cNo Way Home\u201d blew its predecessors out of the water in terms of opening weekend ticket sales. Similar to \u201cInfinity War\u201d and \u201cEndgame,\u201d teased as\u00a0the most ambitious crossover events in history<\/em>, the latest Spidey adventure wasn\u2019t your run-of-the-mill superhero origin story a la \u201cCaptain Marvel\u201d or \u201cAnt-Man.\u201d In the Jon Watts-directed \u201cNo Way Home,\u201d an erupting multiverse paves way for a tantalizingly rare, never-before-seen mashup of villains from Peter Parker\u2019s past, including Willem Dafoe\u2019s Green Goblin and Alfred Molina\u2019s Doctor Otto Octavius from Maguire\u2019s era and Jamie Foxx\u2019s Electro from Garfield\u2019s reign. It\u2019s a nostalgia hook that so effectively capitalizes on two decades of affection and goodwill toward past \u201cSpider-Man\u201d movies, no comic book enthusiast would dare to refuse to watch on the big screen. Moreover,\u00a0certain actors<\/em>\u00a0were heavily teased but never confirmed to return, so people had to go opening weekend to find out who would pop up in the newest adventure.<\/p>\n \u201cAny movie that\u2019s ever claimed the biggest, or one of the biggest, openings has had a hook. That\u2019s how entertainment sells,\u201d says Shawn Robbins, the chief analyst at Box Office Pro. \u201cWhether it\u2019s the promise of revolutionary special effects, space battles, dinosaurs come to life, adaptations of popular literary material, character crossovers or everything in between, movies always have some hinging element to draw the masses.\u201d<\/p>\n Though \u201cSpider-Man: No Way Home\u201d will almost certainly\u00a0not be Holland\u2019s last outing\u00a0as Marvel\u2019s friendly neighborhood web-slinger, it\u2019s natural to question how will lesser-known figures in Spidey\u2019s orbit will fare at the box office at a time when moviegoing has yet return to full strength. Disney\u2019s cavalcade of MCU installments appear to be bulletproof, even though recent entries have been dinged by the pandemic-battered box office. And its 2022 slate returns the spotlight to Marvel\u2019s top shelf vigilantes like Doctor Strange, Thor and Black Panther. They\u2019ll have no trouble selling tickets, and lots of \u2019em.<\/p>\n For Sony\u2019s Marvel movies, the truer test will be \u201cMorbius,\u201d the oft-delayed thriller starring Jared Leto, which it set to open on Jan. 20, 2022; and \u201cKraven the Hunter,\u201d with Aaron Taylor-Johnson, currently scheduled for Jan. 13, 2023. Neither character are household names like Spider-Man, and to date, it does not seem as though the web-slinger will appear in either movie \u2014 at least, as played by Tom Holland. If those films can connect with audiences, though, it will be a testament to the popularity of all things Marvel Comics.<\/p>\n \u201cThe splash effect for other Sony-Marvel adaptations could be significant, but time will tell. Each movie is its own entity from production to marketing to release and reception,\u201d Robbins says. \u201cAs easy as Marvel Studios makes it look sometimes, there is no one-size-fits-all approach.\u201d<\/p>\n That means \u201cMorbius\u201d and \u201cKraven the Hunter,\u201d as well as other Sony-Marvel properties in development, won\u2019t be able to ride the coattails of \u201cSpider-Man\u201d to be successful, even in an era where superheroes reign supreme at the box office. In other words, producers would be keen to heed the words of author Brodi Ashton: \u201cHeroes are made by the paths they choose, not the powers they are graced with.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n