Marvel’s ‘Spider-Man’ crosses $1 billion global pandemic box office record

Yahoo Finance’s Allie Canal breaks down the latest box office numbers, as Marvel fans come out in droves to see ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ while Steven Spielberg’s ‘West Side Story’ flops and ‘The Matrix Resurrections’ disappoints.

Video Transcript

ZACK GUZMAN: Well, it's been a long time since we've had a [INAUDIBLE] weekend when it comes to "Spider-Man-- No Way Home" making a splash at the home box office. And for more on that, I want to bring on Yahoo Finance's Alexandra Canal with the latest on that front. Ali.

ALEXANDRA CANAL: Yeah, "Spider-Man" clinching above that coveted $1 billion mark at the global box office, $1.05 billion worldwide to be exact, a new pandemic-era record. It took 12 days for the film to reach that milestone. Only two other movies to ever hit that mark at a quicker rate were "Avengers-- Endgame," which hit that $1 billion figure in just five days, along with "Avengers-- Infinity War" after 11 days, so still in that Marvel universe.

Many experts expected this to happen after "Spider-Man" debuted last weekend, bringing in $260 million at the North American box office, the second-largest domestic opening of all time, and capturing 92% of the market, according to Comscore. So if you were going to the movies, odds are you were going to see "Spider-Man."

So these numbers, they would have already been impressive in prepandemic times, but the fact that we're in the midst of the pandemic, the omicron variant is surging, and a lot of those big cities where the box office is heavily relies on, it's incredibly impressive but also incredibly telling of the types of movies that do well in theaters, these big-budget, superhero fantasy films. It seems like no matter what obstacle comes in their way, they're always going to trump.

So if we take a look at some of the other big-name films that debuted that didn't do as well as "Spider-Man," you'll really see that point driven home. Let's start first with "The Matrix-- Resurrection." That film, it was a simultaneous release on HBO Max, so perhaps that bled into those box-office figures, took a bite out of that. Only $12 million in domestic ticket sales.

And then if we take a look at "West Side Story" directed by Steven Spielberg, a lot of buzz over this film. That was considered a major flop, only garnering $36.6 million in global ticket sales. So we're seeing that these dramas, these musicals, these films that skew a little bit older, they're just doing that hot at the box office. In fact, Sony said that the majority of "Spider-Man" moviegoers were under the age of 34.

So I think that's going to be an interesting storyline heading into 2022. As a consequence, I don't think that we're going to see a type of different movie. I think we're going to see a lot of the same, a lot of these superhero films. And perhaps those smaller-budget films, those different types of genres, they might just go direct to streaming. So that's something that everyone's watching pretty closely heading into 2022.

ZACK GUZMAN: And yeah, I mean, I didn't see "Spider-Man" but I did see "Licorice Pizza" with the son of the late, great Philip Seymour Hoffman, and I've got to say, it wasn't bad. It wasn't bad. I will say that much. I'll leave the rest of the reviews to you, Ali, but Alexander Canal bringing us the latest from the box office. Appreciate that.