The Spider-Man: Homecoming release date is still eight weeks away, but we’re already seeing long-range box office tracking that predicts a grander opening weekend than that of every Spidey movie to date"¦except for Spider-Man 3.
According to Box Office Pro, the Jon Watts flick should command at least $135 million during its North American debut in July, setting it on track to earn around $325 million throughout its domestic run. Sam Raimi's third standalone movie featuring Tobey Maguire's web slinger bagged over $151 million in its opening weekend, and the first installment earned over $114 million. Raimi's second installment and Marc Webb's two Amazing Spider-Man movies each debuted at under $100 million.
A $135 million opening for Spider-Man: Homecoming would make it the sixth-highest Marvel Cinematic Universe opening to date, and the highest among the first solo outings for every MCU superhero. So we don’t think Sony Pictures is going to regret their historic deal with Marvel Studios!
It must be noted that such an early projection could prove to be significantly higher or lower than the actual gross. The recently released Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 serves as an excellent example. The James Gunn sequel initially tracked for a whopping $160 million debut, but it officially came in around $14 million short. Reviews were largely positive, but a number of critics stated that it didn’t measure up to the original movie, and that may have had a slightly adverse effect on its box office performance in the first three days.
This is a wild guess, but if critics use superlatives such as the best Spider-Man movie to date or the best MCU installment to describe Spider-Man: Homecoming, the movie might end up beating Spider-Man 3's $151 million debut.
Check out these newly released promotional photos (via SMTV Reports), as well as the limited-edition, subscriber-only Empire cover featuring artwork by Alan Davis and Mark Farmer!
