Well, the games have officially begun. The entire industry has been looking ahead to Spider-Man: No Way Home with the expectation/hope that it will be the biggest movie of 2021, and be a beacon of hope for theatrical exhibition. There have been great domestic milestones in the “pandemic era” created by A Quiet Place Part 2, F9, Shang-Chi, and Venom: Let There Be Carnage. The hope has long been that No Way Home would stand taller than all of those both in North America and overseas. Well, so far so good.

No Way Home took off like a rocket to the third biggest preview gross of ALL TIME. Yes, it was even bigger than Avengers: Infinity War, and every single Marvel and superhero movie ever, except for one. The latest Spidey flick raked up $50M, which is only behind the current December opening weekend record holder The Force Awakens, which grossed $57M from previews, and of course Avengers: Endgame, which grabbed $60M in previews before its ridiculous, absurd, and previously unthinkable opening weekend ($357M). The hope now is for No Way Home to get to $100M on Friday, its “opening day.”

Do NOT expect it to come anywhere close to Endgame’s numbers, as even though it was somewhat close in previews, Endgame opened up under the best of circumstances when everyone was game to come to out to the movies. Today, there is hesitation from some people, and especially the older crowd. Luckily, this movie appeals most greatly to those middle age and younger. However, even if No Way Home was debuting under the best of circumstances, what Endgame did was unreal. Before and even during the opening weekend of that film box office pundits and industry insiders were debating if North America even had the infrastructure to support a $300M opening weekend. The hope was that it would top Infinity War ($257.7M), but the whole industry was shell shocked by how much it did so.

That being said, this is a fantastic (I should have said amazing, right? Or spectacular? Next time…) start for Tom Holland’s third “solo” film. The $50M start blows away Sony’s previous record, which was also the previous best for Tom Holland’s web slinger. That being the $15.4M preview gross of Spider-Man Homecoming. That’s right around 3.25 times bigger. More than tripling an entire studios record is obviously very encouraging. In fact, Spider-Man Homecoming grossed $50.8M on its entire Friday. Add to that excellent word of mouth so far (94% from critics on RT, 99% from verified audiences with a 4.9/5 average score), fans wanting to rush out before the movie is spoiled for them, and fans who will watch it multiple times…and you got a movie looking for box office glory.

So yeah, stay tuned. This is going to be a very fun one to track.

Published by Seth Dayrich

Founder of WSYS and writer of two motion pictures (Catching Summer, Dan's Humongous Apartment) and a play (The Restaurant Tango). View all posts by Seth Dayrich