New ‘Spider-Man’ movie spins a record opening weekend
“Spider-Man: No Way Home” racked up roughly $253m (£191m) in U.S. and Canadian ticket sales over the weekend, crushing pandemic records and ranking as the third-biggest domestic debut in Hollywood history, distributor Sony Corp said today.
Around the globe, “No Way Home” generated an additional $334.2m (£252.2m) for a worldwide weekend total of $587.2m (£443.3m), the studio’s estimates said.
The blockbuster returns provided a much-needed jolt to cinemas such as AMC Entertainment, Cinemark and Cineworld that have struggled to draw crowds during the COVID-19 crisis. The spread of the Omicron variant has sparked new concerns.
The movie stars Tom Holland as Marvel’s web-slinging superhero and Zendaya, as his girlfriend MJ, in the third film in a Spider-Man trilogy. It also brings back stars of previous “Spider-Man” films.
“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,” Sony Pictures chairman and chief executive Tom Rothman said in a statement.
The previous pandemic record was set by superhero film “Venom: Let There Be Carnage,” which took in $90 million domestically over its first three days in October.