‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’ opens to $120.5 million, second-highest debut of 2023

Spider-Man returned to the big screen this weekend, webbing up an estimated $120.5 million at the domestic box office.

Sony’s “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” the much anticipated sequel to the Academy Award-winning “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” had the second-biggest opening of 2023, just behind Universal’s “Super Mario Bros. Movie.”

The film also marks the third-best opening weekend for any Spider-Man film, animated or live-action.

“As a PG animated film, ‘Across The Spider-Verse’ is able to capture a younger audience beyond the core fans of the live action PG-13 films and thus ensures the long-term cross-generational appeal of the character and the movies,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore. “This is money in the bank for the studio and movie theaters.”

“Across the Spider-Verse” is estimated to have pulled in more than 9 million moviegoers over the weekend, according to data from EntTelligence. Tickets for the film represent around 56% of all foot traffic to theaters from Thursday through Sunday, the data firm reported.

Additionally, 29% of patrons saw the film in a premium format, paying an average of $4.52 more per ticket.

“This debut is further proof that audiences are eager for fresh, edgy takes on both superhero and animated movies,” said Shawn Robbins, chief analyst at BoxOffice.com.

Sony’s animated Spider-Man sequel arrives on the heels of several strong box office openings, including Disney and Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3” and Disney’s “The Little Mermaid.”

With another $10.2 million in ticket sales during its fifth weekend in theaters, “Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol 3” has generated around $322.7 million domestically. The film has tallied $780.1 million globally.

“The Little Mermaid” saw a 58% drop in ticket sales from its first weekend to its second, on par with industry averages, adding $40.6 million to its cumulative global take. The film has secured $186.2 million in domestic ticket sales and stands at $326.7 million globally.

Additionally, Disney’s “The Boogeyman” opened to $12 million in domestic ticket sales and Universal’s “Fast X” added $9.24 million in ticket sales over the weekend, bringing its domestic haul to $128.4 million.

At present, the year-to-date domestic box office tally stands at around $3.6 billion, just 21.9% behind prepandemic levels, according to data from Comscore. The 2023 box office so far this year is 27.9% above the same period in 2022.

“Between Spidey’s big start, ‘Little Mermaid’s’ strong hold, ‘Boogeyman’s’ horror offering, the holdover prowess of ‘Guardians’ and ‘Fast X,’ and plenty more to come, theater owners, studios, and audiences are now heading full throttle into the most exciting summer market in four years,” Robbins said.

Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC. NBCUniversal distributed “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” and “Fast X.”