Moviegoers’ Spidey-senses have been tingling in a good way as Sony’s “Spider-Man: Far From Home” showed plenty of power at North American multiplexes, soaring to $25.2 million on the Fourth of July — the second-highest Independence Day take of all time.
“Transformers” generated the biggest Independence Day domestic gross in 2007 with $29 million, followed by “Despicable Me 2” in 2013 with $24.5 million and 2012’s “The Amazing Spider-Man” with $23.3 million.
“Spider-Man: Far From Home” has taken in more than $91 million in its first three days and could be on track to take in at least $60 million more during the Friday-Sunday weekend. That should leave the Marvel tentpole well above studio forecasts, which have remained at $125 million for the first six days.
Sony reported Friday that “Spider-Man: Far From Home” has grossed $310 million globally in its first seven days of release with $218.5 million from international markets. The tentpole opened last weekend in China with an impressive $97 million.
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The 23rd Marvel movie, starring Tom Holland, topped the previous MCU Wednesday mark set two months ago by Marvel’s “Avengers: Endgame” with $25.3 million. Holland broke out as Peter Parker in 2017’s “Spider-Man: Homecoming” debuted domestically with $117 million over the three-day July frame on its way to a $334 million North American total and $880 million worldwide.
“Spider-Man: Far From Home” follows the 16-year-old Peter Parker being recruited to save the world while on a school trip to Europe organized by the Midtown School of Science and Technology. Jake Gyllenhaal joins the cast as Mysterio, while Samuel L. Jackson, Zendaya, Cobie Smulders, Jon Favreau, Jacob Batalon and Marisa Tomei reprise their roles for the sequel.
Jon Watts directed “Spider-Man: Far From Home,” which cost $160 million to produce, from a script by Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers. Critics have been mostly impressed with the movie, which carries a 92% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. “Holland’s kid-in-over-his-head hero — awkward and ingenuous, romantic and quicksilver — is alive inside in a way that Andrew Garfield’s Peter never was,” wrote Owen Gleiberman in his review for Variety.
Disney’s “Toy Story 4” should remain a potent attraction during the holiday weekend. The animated comedy sequel has taken in $256 million domestically in 12 days through Tuesday.
Also opening this weekend is A24’s horror film “Midsommar,” which collected $4.4 million from 2,707 screens on Wednesday and Thursday. “Midsommar” is set to bring in another $8 million to $10 million over the weekend. Directed by Ari Aster, “Midsommar” stars Florence Pugh, Jack Reynor and William Jackson Harper in a nightmarish story of friends who travel to Sweden for a festival.
The North American box office stands at $5.7 billion through Tuesday, trailing 2018 by 9.3% at the same point — despite the stellar performance of “Avengers: Endgame,” which has topped $843 million after 68 days. Summer box office is also off 6.3% at $2.21 billion as “Godzilla: King of the Monsters,” “Dark Phoenix” and “Men In Black: International” performed below forecasts.
Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst with Comscore, said the performance so far by “Spider-Man: Far From Home” shows that moviegoers continue to support quality big-name titles.
“All the talk of a bummer box office summer should quiet down this week with a strong 4th of July powered by ‘Spider-Man: Far From Home’ showing that franchises can indeed still deliver the goods while ‘Midsommar’ proves the allure of diverse, original content and the notion of counter-programming as a viable strategy,” he added.