UPDATE: When writing this story in the early am, box office sources were using preliminary numbers, but the actual numbers are now in, and the totals are $260 million in domestic box office, and $340.8 million international, for a worldwide total of $600.8 million.
As expected, “Spider-Man: No Way Home” took top spot at the box office opening weekend, but it also became the third best December opening for a film ever.
According to Box Office Mojo, the film brought in $253 million at the U.S. box office. Playing in 4,336 theaters, it averaged a whopping $58,348 per theater during the weekend.
At the international box office, the film grossed $334.2M from 60 markets, bring the worldwide cume for the weekend to that $587.2 million total.
For Sony, this is the biggest opening weekend ever worldwide, and the film now owns the 3rd best global debut after Avengers: Endgame ($1.22 billion), and Avengers: Infinity War ($640.5M).
Plus, while “Spider-Man: No Way Home” is a Sony movie, Disney/Marvel own a partial stake in the movie, not to mention other Marvel Cinematic Universe characters like Doctor Strange appear in the film.
So this huge box office weekend is also a big win for Marvel/Disney.
Taking a look at the rest of U.S. box office, Disney titles have four of the top 5 titles, and five of the top 10.
“Encanto” holds steady at #2 for a second week with a $6.528 million for its fourth weekend of release. It debuts on Disney+ in the U.S. this week on Christmas Eve (Dec. 24).
20th Century Studios’ “West Side Story” drops from first to third with $3.416 million for its second weekend.
Searchlight Pictures (an arm of 20th Century Studios) debuts “Nightmare Alley” at the fifth spot with $2.958 million in its first weekend of wide release in the U.S.
Finally, hanging in at #8 is Marvel’s “Eternals” with a $1.192 million weekend box office in its seventh week of release. It will debut on Disney+ in the U.S. on January 12, 2022.
Did you go out to the movies this weekend? If so, what did you see?