One of the big questions with the release of Spider-Man: Homecoming is how the film would do financially. While many assumed that Marvel Studios would necessarily bring their Midas touch, one has to remember how negative the perception of the franchise has become. Many still have a sour taste in their mouth from the last few installments of Spidey films. The positive critical response was an important first step, and it seems like Marvel has turned the tide with fans, based on the earliest box office receipts. After mere hours of release Thursday, Sony has already taken in $15.4 million.
That number paces ahead of most other comic films. Deadline mentions Wonder Woman, Deadpool, Captain America: Winter Soldier, and Guardians of the Galaxy as films who made less on their opening Thursday. What does this mean for the long run of the film? It is hard to tell. Some movies open really well and then quickly fade because of pent up and quickly exhausted fanboy demand. Others grow stronger with good reviews and a broadening audience. Given the word of mouth and Rotten Tomatoes scores, I’d say this one is likely to be the latter. If this movie could match the opening weekend multiplier of Wonder Woman (opening weekend 9.4X Thursday take) Homecoming will land at $145 million or so. If it emulates Deapoool (10.4X) it would go to $160 million. Now those are all fantastic openings with incredible performance across all three days of the weekend. Homecoming was only projected at $100-125 domestic as recently as yesterday, so those numbers may be fantasy land. But the buzz feels similar to the Wonder Woman buzz earlier this summer. Personally, I wouldn’t be surprised to see final numbers in the $130-140 million range, but that’s optimism speaking. (For reference, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 came in at a higher $17 million Thursday and ended its weekend at $146 million.)
As far as bigger trends, we see that comic book movies are still the safest bet in Hollywood. Part of Homecoming‘s success is likely that moviegoers finally having something to get excited about. The last few weeks, since Wonder Woman, have been a series of critical flops and mediocre box office performers. The only big time films this summer that have produced as their studios had hoped have been Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Wonder Woman, with Spider-Man: Homecoming now in that same group most likely.
Have you seen it yet? Anyone been for a second or third showing? Share your thoughts on the movie below, but be spoiler friendly, please!
Source: Deadline
