Sony’s Spider-Man: No Way Home crushed it at the Christmas box office, earning $138.6 million from 4,336 theaters in North America for the long five-day holiday to finish Sunday with $467.3 million domestically and more than $1 billion worldwide.
No Way Home has shattered numerous records since opening last weekend and is the first film of the pandemic era to hurtle past the $1 billion threshold at the worldwide box office.
It also scored the third-best Christmas Day gross of all time ($31.7 million) in North America for a weekend gross of $81.5 million. The 10-day domestic total of $467.3 is the second-best showing ever for the month of December and the third-best for any superhero film, according to Sony.
Overseas, the international total through Sunday is $587.1 million from international — without China. The U.K. leads with nearly $69 million despite a surge in COVID-19 cases due to the new variant omicron.
The only other Hollywood holiday event pic to hold its tune over the long holiday corridor (Wednesday-Sunday) was Universal and Illumination’s Sing 2.
Sing 2, buoyed by an A+ CinemaScore and support from younger kids, posted a five-day opening of $41 million from 3,892 locations and a three-day gross of $23.7 million, in line with expectations. The $41 million total includes $1.6 million in Thanksgiving previews.
The Matrix Resurrections and The King’s Man both disappointed in their openings as males largely stuck with Spidey. The two films, along with Sing 2, launched on Wednesday.
From Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow, Matrix Resurrections had trouble getting to $22.5 million. Warners and Village Roadshow had been counting on at least $40 million for the Wednesday-Sunday stretch. Audiences, however, didn’t respond especially well between poor exit scores and a B- CinemaScore. The movie’s three-day tally was $12 million.
The Matrix reboot, playing in 3,552 theaters, opened simultaneously on HBO Max, likely dampening its box office.
20th Century and Disney’s King’s Man also came in well behind expectations with an estimated five-day debut of $10 million from 3,180 sites, including $6.4 million for the three-day weekend.
Both King’s Man and Matrix needed to make a strong showing among older male moviegoers, but older consumers continue to stay away from theaters in larger numbers because of concerns over COVID-19.
King’s Man almost lost the weekend itself to American Underdog, a Christian sports film about NFL quarterback Kurt Warner that was released on Christmas Day by Lionsgate and the Erwin brothers.
American Underdog, which played best in the Midwest and South, posted a stellar two-day gross of $6.2 million from 2,813 cinemas. Like Sing 2 — and No Way Home — it received a coveted A+ CinemaScore.
A Journal for Jordan, directed by Denzel Washington, also opened in select theaters on Christmas Day, earning an estimated $2.4 million from 1,250 theaters for the two days.
At the specialty box office, Paul Thomas Anderson’s hit specialty pic Licorice Pizza expanded on Dec. 25 into 786 runs, earning a promising $2.3 million for the short weekend.
Sony Pictures Classics’ Parallel Mothers, opening on Dec. 24 in three theaters, secured a strong location average of $13,692.
The corridor between Christmas and New Year’s is historically a time when multiple films can prosper. Distributors large and small are banking on building grosses throughout the week, considering that many adults are off of work and kids are out of school.
While Christmas weekend was certainly better than last year, moviegoing still lagged compared to pre-pandemic times as worries over omicron grow. Domestic revenue for the Wednesday-Sunday stretch is expected to come in at around $249.2 million, a 28 percent dip from 2019.
