Swing To The Top Of The Class — 'Spider-Man: Homecoming' Has A Spectacular Opening Weekend!

Seriously — what superhero fatigue? Spider-Man: Homecoming has swung to the top of the weekend box office, performing even better than anyone expected. According to studio estimates, the film has grossed $117 million in the domestic box office, and $257 million worldwide. This proves that Tom Holland really can do what any Spider-Man can — including win big at the box office

What makes this even more remarkable is that Homecoming's opening weekend is one of the strongest that the Spider-Man franchise has seen to date, beating everything but Spider-Man 3 (which, despite fan criticisms, performed surprisingly well as the end of a beloved trilogy). If Homecoming continues to perform on track, we expect that the film may ultimately gross somewhere between $800 and $900 million in the worldwide box office.

Hollywood pundits had been concerned that interest in the franchise could be declining. After all, this is the sixth Spider-Man film since 2002, and it was generally felt by most fans that The Amazing Spider-Man 2 had caused real damage to the franchise. Fortunately, Homecoming has proven those fears to be baseless; the Spider-Man brand continues to perform strongly and both Marvel and Sony will be delighted.

A Strong Performance In The MCU Too

When you compare Spider-Man: Homecoming against the rest of the #MCU, the film performs even better. Take a look at the opening weekends of the top 10 Marvel movies ranked:

With a Spider-Man trilogy on the cards, Homecoming is the strongest trilogy launch in the MCU to date. It's opening weekend is only beaten by already established franchises, including this year's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. That's seriously impressive, and suggests that Spider-Man has a bright future ahead of him.

Sony in particular will look at these figures with relief. 2014's The Amazing Spider-Man 2 had dealt the franchise a real blow, and the Sony hacks exposed how the studio weren't at all sure how to handle such a powerhouse franchise. Clearly, they made the right move launching their unprecedented deal with Marvel Studios, and it's worth remembering that Sony accrues all profits from the Box Office (Marvel receives the merchandise profits, though, which are even more valuable).

No Trace Of Superhero Fatigue

Homecoming wasn't the only success story of the weekend. Critics had been curious to see how #SpiderMan's release would affect #WonderWoman, six weeks into its theatrical release. The good news is that despite losing 313 theaters and going head-to-head with the wallcrawler, Wonder Woman is still going strong. The film's now hit a phenomenal $368.8 million in the domestic box office, although weaker performance at the foreign box office makes it unlikely that Wonder Woman will ever break the $1 billion mark worldwide. Over on Forbes, Scott Mendelson gives a sense of the scale:

"Wonder Woman will become the biggest domestic grosser not released by Walt Disney or Universal/Comcast Corp. since Lionsgate’s The Hunger Games: Catching Fire back in November of 2013. It will also be, not adjusted for inflation, the second-biggest superhero origin story/non-sequel ever behind Sam Raimi’s original Spider-Man way back in 2002. In terms of tickets sold, it still trails Deadpool and Iron Man and won’t get anywhere near Superman, Batman or Spider-Man, but it’s still a potent achievement. It will also be the second-biggest superhero movie ever sans Batman, Iron Man or Spider-Man."

Homecoming's first weekend suggests that the box office really can actually handle two blockbuster superhero films at the same time. That's sure to leave fans thrilled, given just how many superhero movies are due out next year!

What an amazing opening weekend for Spider-Man: Homecoming. The movie's on track to gross between $800 and $900 million, and remember; the clear pattern with #Marvel superhero movies is that the sequels perform even better. It's entirely possible that 2019's Homecoming sequel will see Spider-Man break $1 billion at the box office again!

(Sources: Box Office Mojo, Forbes)