It feels like forever since we mentioned box office records in a positive light. Since the start of the pandemic, it’s been hard for cinemas to find their footing, and 2021 almost closed out without a major blockbuster pulling in some serious cash. That’s all changed though with Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Not only did it lock in one of the best Thursday previews at the domestic box office, but it also went on to score the third-best opening weekend of all time. At the time of writing, Sony has now hailed the official opening weekend for Spider-Man: No Way Home as $253 million, beating Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ $247.9 million weekend haul.
For reference on just how powerful this Marvel movie is for the box office, the latest Marvel outing – Eternals – fizzled, and Spider-Man: No Way Home in its opening weekend has already made 1.5x more than that movie’s entire domestic run.
Worldwide, No Way Home also sits on $587.2 million, meaning it’s already comfortably surpassed the entire global box office runs of Marvel’s three other movies this year – Black Widow ($379.6 million), Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings ($432.2 million) and Eternals ($397 million) – as well as Sony’s own Venom: Let There Be Carnage ($493.6).
Tom Rothman, Chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures’ Motion Picture Group was overjoyed this morning when opening up about the numbers, “This weekend’s historic Spider-Man: No Way Home 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. All of us at Sony Pictures, are deeply grateful to the fabulous talent, both in front of and behind the camera, that produced such a landmark film. Thanks to their brilliant work, this Christmas everyone can enjoy the big screen gift of 2021’s mightiest Super Hero —your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.”
Can Spider-Man: No Way Home keep these types of numbers up during the holiday season or was this just pure fan enthusiasm on the opening weekend? Only time will tell, but while we wait for those numbers, Sony and Marvel will likely still be counting money from this weekend.
For the first time in the cinematic history of Spider-Man, our friendly neighborhood hero is unmasked and no longer able to separate his normal life from the high-stakes of being a Super Hero. When he asks for help from Doctor Strange the stakes become even more dangerous, forcing him to discover what it truly means to be Spider-Man.
Spider-Man: No Way Home sees Jon Watts (Spider-Man: Homecoming, Spider-Man: Far From Home) directing Tom Holland (Spider-Man), Benedict Cumberbatch (Doctor Strange), Zendaya (MJ), Marisa Tomei (Aunt May), Jacob Batalon (Ned Leeds), Tony Revolori (Flash Thompson), Jon Favreau (Happy Hogan), Angourie Rice (Betty Brandt), Jorge Lendeborg Jr. (Jason Ionello), Benedict Wong (Wong), J.K. Simmons (J. Jonah Jameson), Martin Star (Mr. Harrington), J.B. Smoove (Mr. Dell), Hannibal Buress (Coach Wilson), Jamie Foxx (Electro), Alfred Molina (Doctor Octopus), Rhys Ifans (Lizard), Thomas Haden Church (Sandman), and Willem Dafoe (Green Goblin).
