„Spider-Man: No Way Home“ continues to rack up huge pre-sales.
Movie theaters across the globe have been experiencing a kind of pent-up demand that hasn’t been seen in… a while. At the center of stratospheric anticipation is everyone’s friendly neighborhood web-slinger, who takes the spotlight in Sony’s “Spider-Man: No Way Home.” The comic book epic, which serves as a culmination to the Tom Holland-led trilogy and co-stars Zendaya as MJ and Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange, hits theaters on Dec.17. When advance tickets went on sale on Nov.29, some online sites crashed because they had trouble keeping up with demand. Hundreds of showtimes sold out immediately, leaving theater owners to hastily add as many additional screenings as their venues could realistically handle. Immediately selling out showtimes? In this economy? It’s a welcome champagne problem for the beleaguered movie theater business. After the reappearance of big-budget blockbusters like “No Time to Die,” “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” and “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” started the box office’s slow recovery, “Spider-Man: No Way Home” presents the best chance yet to reinvigorate ticket sales and bring audiences back to cinemas. But the movie faces an adversary even more threatening than Doctor Octopus or Mysterio: Omicron, the newest strain of COVID-19 that is spreading around the world, potentially ushering in a new spike in cases. Though there’s little known about the variant, it could deter people from indoor activities, like going to the movies. For now, audiences do not appear to be concerned. Online ticketing service Fandango reported “Spider-Man: No Way Home” has shattered its pre-sale records for 2021, beating out Marvel’s “Black Widow.” Impressively, it’s keeping up with films that premiered prior to COVID-19, resulting in Fandango’s best first-day advance ticket sales since 2019’s superhero smash “Avengers: Endgame” (which collected a head-spinning $357 million in its first three days of release). On Fandango, “No Way Home” is actually outpacing blockbuster titles such as “Avengers: Infinity War,” “Spider-Man: Far From Home,” “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” and “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.” Though “No Way Home” is expected to notch a heroic start, news of robust pre-sales does not necessarily mean Holland’s latest “Spider-Man” adventure will beat — or even match — opening weekend tallies for “Infinity War” ($258 million domestic debut), “The Last Jedi” ($220 million domestic debut), or “The Rise of Skywalker” ($177 million domestic debut). Buying movie tickets in advance indicates there’s solid anticipation among the franchise’s core fanbase but it doesn’t always translate into inaugural box office records.
