‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Weaving $500M+ WW Debut – International Box Office

2ND SATURDAY UPDATE, writethru: Adding another estimated $67M overseas on Friday, Sony/Marvel’s Spider-Man: No Way Home has grossed an amazing $181.4M at the international box office through yesterday. With domestic’s $121.5M Friday, the second biggest opening day of all time there, the global total is already across the three-century mark at $302.9M. And that signals a $500M+ worldwide debut for Peter Parker & Co.

How high No Way Home swings past the half-billion mark will be clearer on Sunday. Either way, topping $500M for a worldwide open would make NWH only the sixth movie in history to hit to such heights; and the second film ever to do it without China. Yes, we know that historical exchange rates factor here, and we will update with those more precise comparisons, but either way this is a win — during a pandemic, during a time of increased concerns over the pandemic, and without the Spidey-loving Japan in the mix until January.

Despite the fluctuating states of some overseas markets, a good sign overall is that as long as cinemas are open and people can get to see No Way Home, they are turning up.

The Top 10 offshore markets through Friday are the UK ($24.9M), Mexico ($20M), Korea ($12.2M), Australia ($10.4M), Brazil ($9.6M), France ($9.2M), Russia ($9.1M), India ($8.9M), Italy ($7M) and Germany ($5.7M).

In Korea, Saturday jumped 56% from Friday despite the introduction of a 10PM curfew. The estimated total there through Saturday is now $17.8M.

More to come on Sunday.

FRIDAY UPDATE, writethru: It’s a Peter Parker frenzy at international box office turnstiles with Sony/Marvel’s Spider-Man: No Way Home having grossed $114.2M through just two days of overseas play in 48 markets. Including domestic’s massive $50M Thursday previews, Spidey is going through the roof.

After reaching milestones in Korea, the UK and other markets on Wednesday (see previous updates below), we can now add that Latin America opening days totaled $19.25M. The film is the biggest opening day ever for Sony in Mexico, Argentina, Bolivia, and Ecuador. In Brazil, a $3.6M start makes No Way Home the No. 2 opening day ever, after Avengers: Endgame.

Elsewhere, Australia snared $6.3M for the No. 3 biggest opening day ever and Sony’s best of all time. India collected a huge $5.5M, the No. 2 all-time opening day for a Hollywood film, and Sony’s biggest.

Spain bagged the best Thursday opening ever with $2.3M and Saudi Arabia scored $1.3M, for the young market’s biggest opening day so far.

The Top 5 markets through Thursday are the UK ($16.4M), Mexico ($14.8M), Korea ($8.6M), Russia ($6.4M), with Australia and Brazil each at $6.3M. The Korea cume through Friday, which saw a bump from Thursday, is $12.2M as the Tom Holland-starrer continues to dominate with a 95% share of the market (a 10PM curfew comes into effect on Saturday meaning the latest showtimes will be around 7PM).

In total, NWH’s opening days are about 71% above Spider-Man: Far From Home, which is mind-blowing. As we head into the weekend, we’ll be keeping an eye out for daytime/family play — there are clearly some distractions at this time of year with the holidays coming up, but Spider-Man and friends/foes have certainly gotten out of the gate as a unique theatrical event experience not to be missed. Audience scores are fantastic (Korea’s CGV is at 97%, France’s AlloCiné at 4.4, etc) and the movie is playing broadly.

With Omicron making headlines, Covid could have some impact here — although even in markets with curfews, cinemas are adapting by opening as early as possible to accommodate audiences.

No Way Home also amazes in IMAX with $10.1M global through Thursday. Internationally, it had the biggest opening day for the format in seven markets: Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Panama, Serbia, Kazakhstan, Greece and Egypt. In India, Cambodia, Mongolia and Colombia’s it was the second-best ever; and in Mexico, Hong Kong and Malaysia, NWH is IMAX’s third-highest launch day.

For the franchise, NWH had the top opening day in 41 markets, including UK, Russia, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Brazil, Korea, India, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Sweden, Switzerland, UAE, Saudi Arabia and Argentina.

For Sony, this is the highest IMAX opening day in 37 markets, including: UK, Russia, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Brazil, India, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Sweden, Switzerland, UAE, Saudi Arabia and Argentina.

More to come on Saturday.

PREVIOUS, 2ND THURSDAY UPDATE, writehru: Sony/Marvel’s Spider-Man: No Way Home is slinging up mega numbers in its early overseas play. The full Wednesday launch in 15 markets has come in at $43.6M. The Jon Watts-directed film has also set multiple records, and is looking to blow past industry projections for the weekend. Domestic previews start today.

As we reported yesterday, the Tom Holland-starrer set a pandemic-era opening day record in Korea on Wednesday. Also yesterday, it scored the best Wednesday launch ever in the UK with £7.63M ($10.1M). That debut topped the $6.6M first day of No Time To Die which bowed on September 30.

The Wednesday in the UK is Sony’s biggest opening day of all time there — and, anecdotally, better than any day of either of the previous Bond movies, Skyfall and Spectre, which Sony handled.

Also on Wednesday, No Way Home grabbed 190M MXN ($9M) in Mexico for the biggest-ever opening day in the market. This comes in above Avengers: Endgame when excluding that film’s previews.

In France, NWH had a Wednesday start of $4.3M which was 2% over Avengers: Infinity War; Russia logged the No. 3 all-time opening day with $3.5M, and Italy gave Sony its best opening day with $3.4M.

There is also encouraging news out of Asia with Taiwan grossing $1.4M on Wednesday (a Sony record).

Meanwhile, in Korea today, No Way Home added an estimated $3.3M for a running two-day cume of $8.58M and a 95% share of the market, where a 10PM curfew will be installed from Saturday. (The Korea figure for Thursday is not included in the total above).

We will be updating throughout the weekend.

PREVIOUS, WEDNESDAY: Sony/Marvel’s Spider-Man: No Way Home grossed an estimated $5.28M in Korea on its first day today. This is significant for a number of reasons: Korea has been extremely soft of late, yet the launch day is 11% over the first day of 2019’s pre-pandemic Spider-Man: Far From Home and is the biggest day-one figure for any title of the pandemic era.

Korea was Far From Home’s second biggest international box office market, after China (which has not yet dated this webslinger installment), so its performance is one to watch as an indicator. It is possible Korea imposes stricter Covid restrictions ahead of the weekend, but let’s worry about that when/if it happens.

The Jon Watts-directed No Way Home, which has already weaved record-breaking presales overseas, also saw rollout today in the UK, France, Russia, Mexico and Italy. In France, it widely outdistanced other titles during the first Paris screenings.

No Way Home begins domestic previews on Thursday. Also joining the opening suite from abroad through Friday are Germany, Brazil, the Netherlands, India and Spain, among others.

Wannasee is so high in the Netherlands, where there is a 5PM curfew, that cinemas are opening as early at 7:30 AM to accommodate moviegoers.

Projections coming into the weekend for one of 2021’s most anticipated titles are for an opening floor of $290M global, which could indeed mushroom into a bigger number. However, we need to remain cautious given potentially shifting Covid impact. We’ll know more and have further updates throughout the coming days.