Several movies and three feature films in, Tom Holland finally got his “Uncle Ben” moment in Spider-Man: No Way Home, effectively silencing doubters about his portrayal of the iconic web-slinging superhero being pretty much the MCU’s Iron Man Jr. and coming well into his own. But, before we go deep into the spoiler territory, let’s talk about just how big of a deal No Way Home is for the movie industry as a whole. During the COVID-19 pandemic, only a handful of movies have crossed the $500 million mark throughout their entire run. So far, the pandemic’s highest-grossing Hollywood film is Daniel Craig’s final James Bond outing, No Time to Die. The latest James Bond installment made more than $770 million at the global box office. In comparison, Sony’s latest comic book adventure, Spider-Man: No Way Home, crushed all box office expectations and officially became the third biggest global opener in history with $587.2 million in the bag.
No Way Home exceeds even the loftiest of expectations
For nearly two years, no film has managed to make more than $100 million in a single weekend at the domestic box office. The highest-grossing COVID-era film during its launch weekend is Venom: Let There Be Carnage, which is coincidentally another Sony comic book sequel, as it kicked off its debut with $90 million secured. Although most experts had No Way Home beating Venom’s record with a $150 million take at most, the final chapter in the Tom Holland-led trilogy scoffed at those numbers and generated $253 million in North America alone. Meanwhile, No Way Home’s overseas coup is even more impressive with a global tally of $587.2 billion as it becomes just the second film ever to make it to the $500 million mark without China. As of the moment, No Way Home’s opening weekend is the third-biggest worldwide just behind 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War ($640 million) and 2019’s Avengers: Endgame ($1.2 billion). Although it’s not quite as record-setting as the latter, the movie’s initial outing is still pretty strong, especially considering that it’s technically a “solo” outing. It’s already beaten 2015’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens ($247 million) and 2017’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi ($220 million), while also becoming just the eighth film in domestic cinema history to cross $200 million in ticket sales in its opening weekend. To further illustrate just how big No Way Home’s debut is, it sold more tickets than 2017’s Homecoming and 2019’s Far From Home combined. It also supplanted 2003’s Spider-Man 3, which featured Toby Macguire, as not only the biggest Spider-Man opening weekend in cinematic history but Sony’s biggest debut ever.
What’s next for the Marvel Cinematic Universe?
For years, people have talked about how theaters are dying in favor of streaming services. Instead, No Way Home just proves that this isn’t happening anytime soon. We wouldn’t go as far as to say that No Way Home saved theatrical releases. However, because it stuck its superhero landing, No Way Home just helped prove that moviegoers remain confident about going in theaters. Despite the growing threat of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, many experts believe that No Way Home is going to continue playing in theaters well into 2022. Having said that, the future is indeed very bright for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. After No Way Home, there are several more MEU TV shows and films for comic book fans. Not to mention, with Charlie Cox’s Matt Murdock officially now part of the MCU (alongside Vincent Philip D’Onofrio’s Kingpin), the MEU just got a whole lot bigger. Speaking of big, the next blockbuster MCU film on the docket is Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which is scheduled to release on May 6, 2022.
