Box Office: 'Spider-Man: Homecoming' Nets Superior $257M Global Debut

Sony got a much-needed win this weekend, as Spider-Man: Homecoming earned $117 million on its domestic debut weekend. That’s, not adjusted for inflation, Sony’s second-biggest debut weekend ever, right between Spider-Man ($114m in 2002) and Spider-Man 3 ($151m in 2007). And it's still in third place even adjusted for inflation, although the 2D Da Vinji Code's $77m debut in 2006 would be around $107m today.

That’s an okay 2.31x weekend multiplier, on the lower end of MCU debuts but with larger overall numbers than anything outside of the last five May summer kick-off movies.

Sony got it right on the second try, ironically enough by doing the very kind of “smaller-budget, smaller-scale, high school-focused” Spider-Man movie they were supposed to do back in 2010. As you may recall, The Amazing Spider-Man was originally envisioned as a small-scale, romance-focused character play with just enough action to put in the trailers, a “Twilight with webs” as we all said at the time.

But somewhere along the line, that $80-$100 million reboot became a $235m reboot which was essentially a darker/gritter remake of Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man. The film was a relative success ($262m domestic/$757m worldwide), but it inspired little excitement for what came next. Sony kneecapped itself by marketing The Amazing Spider-Man 2 as a backdoor pilot for their own expanded universe, which backfired when the film “only” made $709 million worldwide.

Even though we don’t yet know if Spider-Man: Homecoming will make substantially more than The Amazing Spider-Man, Sony is in a healthier position both in terms of budget (this one only cost $175 million) and fans and audiences wanting a sequel. Even as one of the few critics who didn’t like the movie, the characters are great, the world is an enjoyable one and I assume Peter will become a more competent superhero between now and Phase Four.

Also, no spoilers, but the film ends with the best comic book sequel tease since Jim Gordon handed Batman that blood-soaked playing card at the end of Batman Begins. Yes, this was a Marvel production, complete with a much-publicized Robert Downey Jr./Iron Man extended cameo, with Sony funding and distributing the picture and getting the much-needed financial victory. But to quote Batman & Robin, sometimes counting on someone else is the only way you win.

And this will indeed be Sony’s first outright global blockbuster since Spectre way back in October of 2015. And while the beleaguered studio has had solid wins (American Hustle, Hotel Transylvania, Don’t Breathe) and overseas biggies (Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, Smurfs: The Lost Village), they haven’t had an unapologetic worldwide smash in a while.

And yeah, you can note that they haven’t had a global live-action blockbuster outside of the James Bond or Spider-Man business since Men In Black 3 in 2012, a win is a win and I’d argue there is as much value in a studio that can turn Baby Driver into a small-scale hit as there is a studio that can score wins from 007 and Peter Parker.

Besides, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle looks really enjoyable, and I’d be shocked if that didn’t do good-to-great business over the Christmas season. At a glance, if we treat Spider-Man: Homecoming as a Marvel Cinematic Universe movie, then we’re looking at a domestic multiplier of over/under 2.4x (Iron Man 2, Iron Man 3, Thor 2, Avengers 2, Incredible Hulk) 2.7x (Thor, Captain America, Captain America 2, Doctor Strange), or above 3x (Iron Man, The Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, Ant-Man).

I’m tempted to cross out the 3x just on principle, since Spider-Man is such a known entity and the opening weekend was already well over $100 million. But, two of the leggiest MCU movies (Guardians of the Galaxy and Ant-Man) both came out in the latter half of the summer.

Moreover, unless the relatively kid-friendly Valerian breaks out in two weeks (fingers-crossed), the Spidey adventure is the only kid-friendly live-action biggie between now and Thor: Ragnarok in November. The last time we had such a gap in big kid-friendly movies, it was late 2013/early 2014 and Walt Disney’s Frozen legged it to $400 million domestic from a $93m Wed-Sun Thanksgiving opening.

But let’s not get too crazy, as the more likely scenario (good reviews, good word-of-mouth, very few summer biggies after next weekend) is something closer to 2.7x, which would give it a spectacular $316 million domestic. A 2.4x would give it $280m domestic. Yeah, I guess it could play like Captain America: Civil War (2.27x) and end with $266m, but that’s a conversation that may not even apply.

No, even with a $117 million domestic and $257m worldwide start, I don’t yet know if Spider-Man: Homecoming is going to make exponentially more here and/or abroad than The Amazing Spider-Man. But it’s off to a good start and, more importantly, it is a Spidey franchise that audiences will presumably want to return to in July of 2019. The big question, and this is for another day, is whether Spider-Man: Homecoming will make audiences more interested in Sony's Venom and Black and Silver.

There was only one major platform opener this weekend, A24's A Ghost Story. David Lowery's acclaimed supernatural romantic drama debuted in four theaters this weekend, where it earned $108,067 for a promising $27k per-location-average. The Casey Affleck/Rooney Mara vehicle will expand over the summer.