LOS ANGELES — For nearly two years, the question hanging over the film industry has been whether audiences would ever come back the way they used to. This weekend, they did. “Spider-Man: No Way Home” opened to queues, sell-outs and record-breaking advance sales, delivering the biggest box office launch of the pandemic era by an enormous margin.
The film, the third Spider-Man outing starring Tom Holland, has benefited from the worst-kept secret in Hollywood: that it unites characters and villains from two decades of Spider-Man films. Fans responded by treating its release like the event cinema of 2019, with midnight screenings packed despite surging Covid cases in many cities.
The industry needed it. Cinemas have spent the pandemic on life support — closed for months, then starved of product as studios delayed blockbusters or sent them to streaming. Several chains have restructured debts; thousands of screens worldwide may never reopen.
The Sony Pictures release is also a test of the industry’s emerging doctrine: that the biggest films can still command exclusive theatrical windows, while mid-budget drama migrates to streaming. Every large opening this year has been a franchise spectacle aimed at young audiences; adult drama has struggled to sell tickets at all.
What the weekend cannot answer is what happens when the web-slinger goes home. January’s calendar is thin, the Omicron variant is filling hospitals, and one superhero — however acrobatic — cannot carry an industry alone. But for one weekend at least, cinemas remembered what they were for.
Media-Society.com is a press network association based in Spain, founded in 2020. More at www.media-society.com.
