Spider-Man: No Way Home has opened to the third-highest global box office in history. Yes, not even a new Covid-19 variant could dissuade fans from heading to the multiplex and watching the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s version of the Wallcrawler battle Spider-Man villains from across the multiverse.
No Way Home brought in $253 million in North America while overseas it raked in an eye-watering $334.2 million. That means all in all Tom Holland’s third Spider-Man movie has brought in a staggering $587.2 million worldwide. That gives No Way Home the third-biggest global opening of all time just behind Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.
This would have been impressive enough during a normal year but it’s even more remarkable when you consider we’re still in the midst of a pandemic and cinema-going audiences have shown some trepidation in returning to theatres. The Chinese war movie The Battle at Lake Changjin remains the biggest film of the year at the global box office ($903,878,358) but it is possible Spider-Man may smash that figure before the year is out.
The success of No Way Home has shocked even box office analysts. Paul Dergarabedian, a senior media box office analyst with Comscore, told Variety that Spider-Man’s performance is “particularly impressive given the constraints of a marketplace still very much impacted by COVID related news and concerns.”
Franchise Entertainment Research boss David A. Gross shared Dergarabedian surprise. “This is an incredible opening and a timely reminder of what the big screen still means to mainstream moviegoers,” he told Variety. “Most big series struggle to maintain their success this late in their run […] Spider-Man is exploding.”
Not everyone’s pleased with Spidey’s success though. “I am legitimately dumbfounded by the new Spider-Man’s box office tally,” Scott Wangler of Fangoria wrote on Twitter. “A fucking $240M+ opening weekend? No shade whatsoever, but it’s worth noting that this is the moment where I accept that I am simply nowhere near ‘in touch’ with the moviegoing public. Astounding.”
Spider-Man: No Way Home is part of Marvel’s Phase 4 and is in theatres now. If you love the MCU check out our guide on Doctor Strange 2, it’s magical!