Box Office: 'Spider-Man: Far From Home' debuts with heroic $185 million

[July 08, 2019]   By Rebecca Rubin

LOS ANGELES, (Variety.com) - Superheroes were once again around to save the day as "Spider-Man: Far From Home" ignited a much-needed boost in the domestic box office. The web-slinging adventure easily dominated in North America, delivering a $185 million debut from 4,636 venues during its first six days in theaters.

But even your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man isn't immune to a little sequel slump. "Spider-Man: Far From Home" got a head start by opening on the Tuesday ahead of Independence Day, but it collected $93 million over the traditional three-day weekend. That's a stellar start to be sure, but a drop from the $117 million debut of its predecessor, 2017's "Spider-Man: Homecoming." However, the July 4th weekend isn't a traditionally busy time for moviegoing.

"Spider-Man: Far From Home" set a number of records this week, including biggest Tuesday ticket sales of all time ($38 million), best Wednesday grosses for a Marvel movie ($27 million) and the second-largest Fourth of July holiday ($25 million). It also marks Sony Pictures' biggest six-day opening weekend ever.

Overseas, the 23rd movie in Marvel's Cinematic Universe earned $395 million, boosting its global tally to a mighty $580 million after 10 days. The superhero tentpole is performing ahead of fellow comic-book universe titles "Captain Marvel" and "Spider-Man: Homecoming" at the same point in their release cycles.

Boosted by solid reviews, "Spider-Man: Far From Home" also benefited as the must-see followup to the epic finale that was "Avengers: Endgame." Younger males accounted for most of opening weekend audiences. Boys and men comprising 60% of crowds, while 58% of ticket buyers were under the age of 25.

"Spider-Man: Far From Home," which carries a $160 million price tag, picks up after the events of "Avengers: Endgame" and sees Peter Parker (Holland) on a class trip to Europe. While overseas, he is reluctantly enlisted by Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) to help take down threats from an alternate dimension. Zendaya, Cobie Smulders, Jon Favreau and Marisa Tomei all returned for the sequel.

Also opening this weekend was A24's "Midsommar," director Ari Aster's sophomore feature. The R-rated folk horror film nabbed sixth place on box office charts, generating $6 million over the weekend and $10.9 million during its first five days of release. "Midsommar" received mostly positive reviews, though audiences seemed more divided. The movie, about a group of friends who travel to Sweden for a festival, has a mediocre C+ CinemaScore.

While in line with studio projections, "Midsommar's" debut is roughly half of what Aster's first film "Hereditary" made in its inaugural weekend. "Hereditary" launched with $13 million last June and is still A24's highest-grossing movie to date with $44 million in North America and $79 million globally.

Disney-Pixar's "Toy Story 4" slid to second place with $34 million in ticket sales during its third outing, bringing its domestic tally to a massive $306 million.

In third, Universal's Beatles tribute "Yesterday" earned another $10 million for a North American haul of $36 million. Warner Bros.' "Annabelle Comes Home" added $9.5 million this weekend, taking box office receipts to $50 million.

Rounding out the top five is Disney's "Aladdin," which added $7 million in its seventh weekend in theaters. The live-action remake has generated $320 million in North America.

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