Don\u2019t underestimate Peter Parker.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the takeaway this weekend after Sony\u2019s comic book adventure \u201cSpider-Man: No Way Home\u201d crushed box office expectations, generating a mammoth $253 million from 4,336 theaters in North America.<\/p>\n
It was easily the best domestic opening weekend turnout of any movie in pandemic times. Prior to this weekend, no other COVID-era film had been able to cross even $100 million in a single weekend. The biggest domestic debut had belonged to another Sony\u2019s comic book sequel, \u201cVenom: Let There Be Carnage,\u201d which generated $90 million to start.<\/p>\n
The final chapter in the\u00a0Tom Holland-led trilogy had initially been expected to gross $130 to $150 million over the weekend, but it quickly squashed those estimates. On its first day alone, the film collected $121 million. \u201cSpider-Man: No Way Home\u201d had a particularly huge Friday because die-hard\u00a0Marvel\u00a0fans wanted to be among the first to watch the movie and avoid spoilers online. After only three days in cinemas, it\u2019s already the highest-grossing film of this year (and last).<\/p>\n
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Overseas, the latest Spidey outing has collected $334.2 million from 60 international markets for a global tally of $587.2 million. It ranks as the\u00a0third-biggest worldwide opening weekend\u00a0ever behind \u201cAvengers: Endgame\u201d ($1.2 billion) and \u201cAvengers: Infinity War\u201d ($640 million). Those receipts have Sony, which distributed the 27th entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, already popping champagne.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis weekend\u2019s historic \u2018Spider-Man: No Way Home\u2019 results, from all over the world and in the face of many challenges, reaffirm the unmatched cultural impact that exclusive theatrical films can have when they are made and marketed with vision and resolve,\u201d says Tom Rothman, Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group chairman and CEO.<\/p>\n
Holland\u2019s newest web-slinging \u201cSpider-Man\u201d adventure, which teases a tantalizing team-up of superheroes and villains from Peter Parker\u2019s past, isn\u2019t just smashing COVID-era box office records. The film is experiencing the kind of demand that hasn\u2019t been witnessed in theaters since Disney\u2019s every-hero-but-the-kitchen-sink mashup \u201cAvengers: Endgame,\u201d which collected a historic $357 million in its 2018 debut. \u201cNo Way Home\u201d isn\u2019t quite reaching those (basically unattainable) levels, but the movie has been a formidable force, zooming past opening weekend tickets sales for box office behemoths like 2015\u2019s \u201cStar Wars: The Force Awakens\u201d ($247 million) and 2017\u2019s \u201cStar Wars: The Last Jedi\u201d ($220 million). It stands behind only \u201cAvengers: Endgame\u201d and 2017\u2019s \u201cAvengers: Infinity War\u201d ($257 million debut) as the third-best opening weekend in history. Counting \u201cNo Way Home,\u201d only eight films have ever crossed $200 million in ticket sales in a single weekend.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is an incredible opening and a timely reminder of what the big screen still means to mainstream moviegoers,\u201d says David A. Gross, who runs the movie consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research. \u201cMost big series struggle to maintain their success this late in their run [\u2026] \u2018Spider-Man\u2019 is exploding.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Holland is the third actor to portray Marvel\u2019s friendly neighborhood Spider-Man after Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield. Jon Watts, who oversaw the two other Holland-led movies, returned to direct. The cast includes Zendaya as MJ, Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange and Marisa Tomei as Aunt May, as well as Alfred Molina (Doc Ock), Willem Dafoe (Green Goblin), Jamie Foxx (Electro), Thomas Haden Church (Sandman) and Rhys Ifans (The Lizard). As a superhero crossover event for the ages, \u201cNo Way Home\u201d sold more tickets on Friday than 2017\u2019s \u201cHomecoming ($117 million debut) and 2019\u2019s \u201cFar From Home\u201d ($92 million debut) did in their respective opening weekends. \u201cNo Way Home\u201d newly supplants Macguire\u2019s 2007 adventure \u201cSpider-Man 3,\u201d with $151 million (not adjusted for inflation), as the biggest Spider-Man opening weekend in history.<\/p>\n
Surpassing that milestone would be noteworthy in normal times, but it is \u201cparticularly impressive given the constraints of a marketplace still very much impacted by COVID related news and concerns,\u201d says Paul Dergarabedian, a senior media analyst with Comscore.<\/p>\n
For better or worse, \u201cSpider-Man\u201d landed on the big screen in the nick of time. The film\u2019s remarkable box office revenues coincide with the rapid spread of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, which is already leading to restaurant, concert and live-theater closures in New York City. Yesterday, \u201cSaturday Night Live\u201d scrapped its last show of the year and sent home its audience and musical guest,\u00a0citing \u201can abundance of caution.\u201d<\/p>\n
So far, any fears over developing variants haven\u2019t made a dent on \u201cSpider-Man: No Way Home.\u201d Despite skyrocketing infection rates in the Big Apple, cinemas in the New York metro area were the second-highest revenue drivers in the country behind Los Angeles. And two Manhattan locations, AMC Empire and Lincoln Square, were among the top-five biggest earners in terms of Spidey ticket sales in the U.S.<\/p>\n
If cases continue to surge, though, it could make some audience members apprehensive about going to the movies. But unless moviegoing confidence takes a sudden nosedive, box office analysts expect the spectacularly reviewed Holland-led film to play and play\u2026 and play in theaters well into the new year.<\/p>\n
Box office experts believe there\u2019s one reason why \u201cSpider-Man: No Way Home\u201d is turbo-charging the box office: superheroes sell. In other words, the comic book adventure\u2019s performance doesn\u2019t reverse fortunes for the beleaguered movie theater business. Rather, industry insiders believe it punctuates the reality that multiplexes have been \u2014 and will continue to be \u2014 more reliant than ever on big-budget spectacles, particularly of the superhero variety. Still, as many note, it\u2019s exciting for any film to reach such rarified heights.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe weekend is sensational, but until COVID recedes and is considered something like the flu, the business is not out of the woods,\u201d Gross says.<\/p>\n
Case in point: Guillermo del Toro\u2019s star-studded crime thriller \u201cNightmare Alley,\u201d which launched in fifth place to a muted $3 million from 2,145 theaters. It\u2019s a rough start for a movie that reportedly carries a $60 million price tag, the most money that Searchlight Pictures, the studio behind \u201cNightmare Alley,\u201d has ever spent on a film. Despite positive reviews, the movie\u2019s target demographic of adult audiences have been reluctant to return to the movies. By contrast, young men \u2014 the key market for comic book and science-fiction tentpoles \u2014 have been fueling attendance for pandemic-era hits like \u201cA Quiet Place Part II,\u201d \u201cF9: The Fast Saga,\u201d \u201cShang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings\u201d and \u201cNo Time to Die.\u201d<\/p>\n
With movie theaters devoting nearly every auditorium to \u201cSpider-Man: No Way Home,\u201d this weekend\u2019s other offerings had to settle for scraps. In a distant second place, Disney\u2019s animated musical fable \u201cEncanto\u201d nabbed $6.5 million from 3,525 venues. After four weeks on the big screen, the movie has generated $81.5 million in North America.<\/p>\n
Disney\u2019s \u201cWest Side Story\u201d adaptation and Sony\u2019s \u201cGhostbusters: Afterlife\u201d will vie for third place; each movie brought in $3.4 million over the weekend. Steven Spielberg\u2019s big-budget take on \u201cWest Side Story\u201d suffered a huge 68% drop from its $10 million debut, pushing domestic revenues to $17.9 million. Meanwhile, the latest \u201cGhostbusters\u201d sequel has made a solid $117 million at the domestic box office.<\/p>\n
Source: variety<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Don\u2019t underestimate Peter Parker. That\u2019s the takeaway this weekend after Sony\u2019s comic book adventure \u201cSpider-Man: No Way Home\u201d crushed box office expectations, generating a mammoth $253 million from 4,336 theaters in North America. It was easily the best domestic opening weekend turnout of any movie in pandemic times. Prior to this weekend, no other COVID-era […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16365,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7036],"tags":[18831,18833,18834,18832],"class_list":["post-16362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-box-office-spider-man","tag-debuts-to-jaw-dropping-253-million","tag-no-way-home-debuts-to-jaw-dropping-253-million","tag-spider-man-no-way-home-debuts-to-jaw-dropping-253-million"],"yoast_head":"\n