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Credit: Inside the MagicThe long-awaited Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is finally here and already beating records.
The movie is a sequel to Sony’s 2018 Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, featuring stunning animation styles and hundreds of Spider-Man variants. Across the Spider-Verse has had fans excited since its announcement, and with the third installment already in production, it’s shaping up to be one of the best Spider-Man adaptations in years.
The movie premiered last night and initial preview revenue has the film close to beating several records. After Thursday previews, the film has raked in $117.3 million with an expected $80-90 million opening weekend. For comparison, Into the Spider-Verse opened with $35.4 million.
According to Variety, the preview numbers make Across the Spider-Verse the second-highest preview gross for an animated movie, following behind Disney’s The Incredibles 2 (2018), which gained $18.5 million. The film also opened with an average score of 95% on Rotten Tomatoes, making it one of the highest scores of the year.
Across the Spider-Verse also has the second-highest previews for any Spider-Man film, second to Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), which had $50 million in previews. As The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023) continues to beat box-office records, becoming the second-highest-grossing animated movie of all time, this year is proving that Disney has serious competition.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse picks up after the first film, introducing Miles Morales to the multiversal Spider-Men variants, including the Sony and MCU live-action Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, and Tom Holland versions. Early reviews of the film were overwhelmingly positive, praising the animation and inclusion of so many aspects, and public responses seem to be much the same.
Disney Pixar’s animated film, Elemental, also comes out later this year, although it’s already receiving negative backlash and little promotion from the studio. Disney’s centennial animated movie, Wish, will be released in November to celebrate the end of Disney’s 100th anniversary. With Across the Spider-Verse already tracking to do so well, it’s entirely possible it may break even more records, or at least come close, as opening weekend commences.
Are you planning to see Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse this weekend? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments below!