'Spider-Man: No Way Home' Has the "Best Opening Night of All Time"

After months — and months and months — of speculation and hype, Marvel fans finally got to see the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s latest installment, Spider-Man: No Way Home, last night. And, wow, did it deliver.

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No spoilers here, but suffice it to say that the film lived up to all expectations, while still offering a glimpse at the dark side of Tom Holland’s Peter Parker/Spider-Man. The actor previously shared that he “loved” bringing Parker’s “bad” side to the big screen:

“Yeah, and also Peter Parker’s ability to be bad… there’s something that happens in this film which I think fans will be very shocked by, which is really exciting and, for me, was something I loved bringing to the screen.”

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Now, domestic box office numbers are in and, unsurprisingly, fans turned out en force to see the final installment in the MCU’s Spider-Man trilogy (at least for now).

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Yesterday, Deadline noted that the Jon Watts-directed film was “eyeing [a] $200M+ opening” and that it “hopes to land among [the] top 7 domestic debuts of all-time.” The publication’s report continued with additional details about No Way Home‘s U.S. theatrical release:

Who says people love to stay home and stream movies?

Proving that theatrical is still king, Sony/Marvel’s Spider-Man: No Way Home rang up a massive $50M, the third-best preview night ever and the most money Sony has ever seen for a Thursday preview night.

It easily buries the previous high we’ve seen during the pandemic, that being for Disney/Marvel’s Black Widow at $13.2M. It also blows away Sony’s previous Thursday preview high, which was for Spider-Man: Homecoming — the first Tom Holland MCU Spider-Man — which minted $15.4M in 2017.

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In a statement, AMC Theaters Chairman and CEO Adam Aron expressed excitement regarding moviegoers’ return to theaters for the latest MCU project:

“Needless to say, we are ever so happy to see a record-setting number of people returning to the cinema to capture the magic offered at AMC movie theatres. Yesterday for its opening night [Thursday showings], we hosted some 1.1 million guests to watch Spider-Man: No Way Home at our U.S. theatres. Our congratulations go to Sony Pictures for this wonderfully successful new movie.”

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Another movie theater giant, Cinemark, referred to the film’s debut as its “best opening night of all time.”

It is not yet, known, however, if this movie will ultimately outperform the final two films in Kevin Feige’s Infinity Saga — Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019).

More on Spider-Man: No Way Home

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Joining Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) and Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), the official description of Spider-Man: No Way Home reads:

For the first time in the cinematic history of Spider-Man, our friendly neighborhood hero is unmasked and no longer able to separate his normal life from the high-stakes of being a Super Hero. When he asks for help from Doctor Strange the stakes become even more dangerous, forcing him to discover what it truly means to be Spider-Man.

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Holland and Zendaya (MJ) are joined by Benedict Cumberbatch (Doctor Stephen Strange), Jon Favreau (Happy Hogan), Marisa Tomei (Aunt May), Jacob Batalon (Ned Leeds), and Alfred Molina (Doctor Octopus) in the film.

Have you seen No Way Home yet?