After years of trying, three lead actors who kind of all look the same, and a weird ’emo’ phase best forgotten, it seems the Spider-Man franchise has finally struck gold.
Spider-Man: Far From Home just became the first Spider-Man film to make $1 billion at the box office. It’s the first solo Spider-Man film to do so, and only the second in Sony’s entire history to do so, after the 2012 James Bond flick Skyfall.
Fans of the franchise can therefore breathe a sigh of relief, as it means the partnership between Marvel Studios and Sony will continue for at least one more movie.
If you’ve not seen it, check out the trailer here:
Far From Home has also surpassed Sony’s surprise 2017 hit Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle to become the studio’s second-highest grossing movie of all time, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The milestone means Sony is the first studio after Disney to hit the billion dollar mark since Warner Bros’ sub-aquatic super-force Aquaman earned $1.14 billion at the box office.
In total, Far From Home is the eighth live-action Spider-Man film released by Sony, it was produced by Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige and former Sony chairperson Amy Pascal. It is the sequel to Spider-Man: Homecoming, which drew $880 million at the box office, starring Tom Holland in his first full-length outing as Spidey, and served to revive the beloved franchise.
So far, only 40 films have ever passed the $1 billion mark, three of which came in 2019 – Far From Home, Avengers: Endgame and Captain Marvel.
Just this week, Endgame passed Avatar at the box office to become the the highest grossing film of all time. Holland’s appearance in the Avengers films no doubt helped boost Far From Home‘s performance at the box office.
In fact, Far From Home picks up with Spider-Man, aka Peter Parker, shortly after the events of Endgame, and sees Samuel L Jackson’s character Nick Fury adjust to a post-Avengers world, with Spider-Man a key player in it.
North America is Spidey’s biggest box office success, with China coming in second, where it grossed $204 million, followed by South Korea ($56 millions), the UK ($36 million), Mexico ($30 million) and Japan ($26 million).
After Far From Home, the second-highest grossing Spider-Man movie is Spider-Man 3, the 2007 film starring Tobey Maguire as the web-slinging hero, which features the afore-mentioned ’emo’ phase. Thank goodness for Far From Home.
If you have a story you want to tell send it to UNILAD via story@unilad.com
Charlie Cocksedge is a journalist and sub-editor at UNILAD. He graduated from the University of Manchester with an MA in Creative Writing, where he learnt how to write in the third person, before getting his NCTJ. His work has also appeared in such places as The Guardian, PN Review and the bin.