Movies During the Pandemic: Spider-Man: No Way Home’s Record-Breaking Success in Theaters

             Written by Noah Sophamisay

 

            Amid the current COVID-19 pandemic, a time that has not been kind to the movie industry, and with the virus’s new Omicron on the rise, Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures Entertainment’s Spider Man: No Way Home still managed to exceed expectations and have a strong opening weekend. As soon as tickets for the film went up for sale on November 29, 2021, fans from around the world managed to crash ticket sales websites in an attempt to a seat at the multiplex for opening night. Following the explosive response to the film’s presale tickets, Sony Pictures set its prediction of the opening weekend’s domestic box office total at an above average yet modest $150 million. To their surprise, Spider-Man: No Way Home cleared its opening weekend with a total gross of $260 million in the United States alone—that’s more than any prior pandemic film’s total domestic run. film would then go on to clear $1 billion worldwide in just 11 days after its December 17th release, making it the pandemic film to date. While a studio’s competitors usually hate to be outdone, there was a collective sigh of relief among Hollywood filmmakers and executives over No Way Home’s success. Because if this film couldn’t deliver during the pandemic, then who could?

            Spider-Man: No Way Home is currently the sixth highest grossing film worldwide with a total of $1.8 billion, and the film is still making millions of dollars domestically in its eleventh weekend. What is it about this movie that made it become so successful in a time when not a single other movie could reach the billion-dollar mark? According to the large fan response, the high watchability of this film comes down to three aspects: the continuation of a story that is thirteen years in the making, its all-star cast, and its nostalgia factor. Spider-Man: No Way Home is the 27^th entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) line of films. After the franchise kicked off with 2008’s Iron Man, the MCU is finally moving into its highly anticipated multiverse storyline, something that longtime fans won’t want to miss. No Way Home also features big names from Hollywood in its main cast including Tom Holland, Zendaya, and Benedict Cumberbatch among others.Lastly, the film has a nostalgia factor that allowed it to reach a larger audience than most MCU films. Believe it or not, not every Marvel fan is also a fan of the MCU, but with the promise of the return of iconic villains from non-MCU Spider-Man films like Green Goblin and Doc Ock and rumors of Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man returning as well, fans of the older movies were sold on the concept. Tobey Maguire’s iteration of the web slinger first hit theaters all the way back in 2002, so one could argue that No Way Home was nineteen years in the making.

            Regarding the future of Spider-Man, film producer Amy Pascal, stated in an interview with Fandango that there are plans to continue the story of Tom Holland’s Spider-Man in a new trilogy of films after No Way Home. After the tragic ending of the film, there is no telling when or where Spider-Man will show up next in the MCU, but fans are eagerly awaiting his next big role. No Way Home also managed to spark a fan movement on social media in which the hashtag #MakeTASM3 (“Make The Amazing Spider-Man 3”) began trending. Andrew Garfield’s appearance in the film renewed interest in his iteration of the character, causing fans to demand the release of The Amazing Spider-Man 3, which was canceled in 2015. While there has not been a response from Sony Pictures, anything with enough interest from their audience is worth considering on their end. Finally, with the boost of motivation from Spider-Man: No Way Home’s success, Sony Pictures, the current holder of the film rights to the character, has plans to continue expanding their own Spider-Man cinematic universe with entries like Venom, Morbius, and rumors of a Madame Web film in the works.