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"Spider-Man: No Way Home," produced by Sony
Corp's movie studio and Walt Disney Co, stars Tom Holland as
Marvel's web-slinging superhero and Zendaya as his girlfriend,
MJ. The film opens exclusively in theaters on Friday.
As of Tuesday afternoon, "No Way Home" had earned a 98% positive
score from 65 reviews collected on the Rotten Tomatoes website.
Supporters said the storyline would please old and new fans
alike.
"'Spider-Man: No Way Home' is a goliath that feels destined to
eat the world, a potent combination of the ongoing Marvel
Cinematic Universe and nostalgia for what came before," said
Esther Zuckerman of Thrillist.
Brian Truitt of USA Today called the film "a rousing entry that
doubles as a love letter to the comic-book character, a film
very much about second chances and a cleverly crafted reminder
of that famous adage: 'With great power comes great
responsibility.'"
Advance ticket demand has been strong, a welcome sign for movie
theater chains, including AMC Entertainment, Cinemark and
Cineworld that are still struggling to lure back audiences amid
the COVID-19 pandemic.
The holiday season around Christmas typically ranks as the
second-biggest movie-going period of the year, but recent
box-office tallies are hovering well below pre-pandemic levels.
Steven Spielberg's "West Side Story" remake disappointed with
$10.6 million in domestic ticket sales last weekend, prompting
new questions in Hollywood about what it will take to attract
crowds back to theaters.
First-day presales for "No Way Home" were the highest recorded
by ticket seller Fandango since 2019's "Avengers: Endgame," the
second-highest grossing movie of all time.
"We've worked so hard on this film," Holland said in an
interview with Reuters. "For it to be so well-received is
awesome."
Paul Dergarabedian, senior box office analyst at Comscore, said
he expected "No Way Home" to haul in more than $130 million in
U.S. and Canadian ticket sales over its opening weekend. A debut
at that level would mark the first $100 million-plus weekend
since December 2019.
"That will wash away much of the negative news that came before
and hit a positive reset for theaters as we head into the
box-office year of 2022," Dergarabedian said.
Hollywood will closely watch this weekend's results to help
gauge the future of movie-going amid the rise of streaming
television. Tom Rothman, the head of Sony's movie division, said
he believed the rush for advance tickets to "No Way Home" showed
"people are ready to get back to the big screen."
"This movie was made for movie theaters," Rothman said.
(Reporting by Lisa Richwine; Editing by Dan Grebler and Sonya
Hepinstall)
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