Spider-Man: Homecoming swings in with sturdy $257 million opening

Not only are the reviews pretty spiffy, the box office haul for ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’s opening weekend is no slouch either.

Over the weekend, Tom Holland’s teenage super-hero hauled in $257 million worldwide – just a few quid shy of £200 million.

That puts it ahead of recent blockbusters like ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2’, ‘Wonder Woman’, ‘The Dark Knight Rises’, and ‘Transformers: The Last Knight’.

It exceeded even the most enthusiastic industry forecasts, which ranged from $90 million to $110 million in the US, with Sony itself reckoning on about $80 million.

In fact, the figure in the US was a solid $117 million, which, coupled with the international numbers means that it’s convincingly covered its $175 million and will be heading towards a profit soon enough.

And it’s good news all round too – the reviews so far have been solidly positive, with a 93% ‘fresh’ rating on reviews aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes.

Most critics – while not quite branding it a classic of the genre – have hailed its fun and ‘breezy’ (an epithet appearing in a number of reviews) outlook and teen-focused angle.

It finds Tom Holland making his second appearance, but obviously most substantial, as Spider-Man following his brief cameo in ‘Captain America: Civil War’.

He stars alongside Michael Keaton as the Vulture, Zendaya as the new MJ, Donald Glover as the shady Aaron Davis, and Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark.

And while the heap of cash will continue to grow in the coming weeks, this extra bump finds the Marvel Cinematic Universe passing an eye-popping $12 billion (£9.3 billion) globally.

Whether ‘Homecoming’ goes on to become one of the movies to bust a billion on its own – as have ‘Civil War’, ‘Iron Man 3’, ‘Age of Ultron’ and ‘Avengers Assemble’ – remains to be seen.

But this is a decent start.

Read more:
Stan Lee is technically the highest-grossing actor of all time
Spider-Man: Homecoming post-credits scenes explained
Why iconic Spider-Man: Homecoming trailer shot isn’t in the movie