Spider-Man, Spider-Man, does whatever a spider can… if spiders repeatedly break box office records, that is.Spider-Man: No Way Homebeat opening weekend estimates, including its previous estimated domestic weekend total of $253 million - a pandemic-era record - landing on a final domestic open of $260 million. This officially gives Spidey the second highest opening of all time in the United States, taking $121.9 million on Friday, $73.9 million on Saturday, and another whopping $64.1 million on Sunday from across 4,336 locations, including all IMAX and PLF screens. The opening weekend gross further cementsNo Way Homeas the best opening for Sony’sSpider-Manfranchise, and also marks the industry’s best ever for December.
This takes theTom Holland-starrer to a $594.2 million global debut, the third highest behindAvengers: Infinity War(a huge $640.5 million) andAvengers: Endgame(astronomical at $1.22 billion). No wonder the 25-year-old performer, who has played Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe since the character’s debut in 2016’sCaptain America: Civil War, is reportedly wrangling for a meatier,Robert Downey Jr.level contract. He’s not the only draw that has led to such a sizable box office return, of course: fans are flocking to the new Spidey instalment to see an all-star cast of returning villains, fromAlfred Molina’s Doc Ock toJamie Foxx’s Electro. The film’sotherhitherto secretive cameos will no doubt serve it with terrific word of mouth, giving it even better legs with generational demographics for whom said returning characters affect their nostalgic impulses. Mix this with the majority of schools across the country breaking up for the holidays, and it looks like Spidey’s got a whole lotta dollars to web up yet.
RELATED:7 MCU Villains That Deserve Solo MoviesAswe previously reported, the $260 million opening figure is bigger than both ofNo Way Home’s MCU Spidey predecessors combined:Spider-Man: Homecominggrossed $117 million on debut, then second only toSpider-Man 3;Far From Hometook a no less respectable $92 million. The figure even dwarfs the take forSpider-Man,Tobey Maguire’s first outing as the red-and-blue webslinger, which arguably established the new norm for superhero big screen dominance. The film took $114.8 million;No Way Homehas made almost two-and-a-half times that, not adjusted for inflation.
Sony’s eyes will now be keenly set on the rise of the Omicron Covid-19 variant, with states across the world moving to put in place different legislative restrictions which could affect the film’s international performance. Rumors are building of a return to a tiered lockdown in the United Kingdom, for example - whereNo Way Homescored the fourth-highest ever opening with £31.9 million ($42.1 million) - which could see theaters close fromas early as December 28.
