
“Spider-Man: No Way Home’s” Thursday’s afternoon and evening “previews” took in over $50 million in ticket sales in North America. And Friday’s all-day take was even better — over $70 million.
That makes for the second best “opening day” ever and puts this blockbuster in the “blockbuster” category before the sun sets on Saturday of its opening weekend. It’ll clear $245-$250 million by midnight Sunday, Deadline.com projects.
That’s not as much as “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker,” but for a movie in the bitter end of a pandemic, it’s nothing to sneeze at.
Whatever Disney has in its Marvel stable, it’s always been Sony that had the one can’t-miss gold mine in that comic book catalog — the teen web slinger with a heart, a bad rep and a guilty conscience.
Reviews didn’t help or hurt it, because the fanoisie were always going to turn out.
The all-star/guest-star/”greatest hits” cast made this the surest of sure things this side of an “Avengers” picture.
“Nightmare Alley” has good reviews of its own, a sparkling cast and Guillermo del Toro behind the camera. And it’s earning table scraps — maybe $3-3.5 million on its opening weekend.
That won’t best “Encanto” ($6.6), “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” ($3.6) or “West Side Story” ($3.4 million).
The Indian wide-release “Pushpa: The Rise” is the only other new release to clear $1 million and crack the top ten.