Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse Has Already Passed Into The Spider-Verse At The Box Office
In what may end up being one of the big surprises of the year at the box office, "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" is having itself a Cinderella moment, as the animated sequel is doing better than just about anyone could have expected. Sony's follow-up to 2018's Oscar-winning "Into the Spider-Verse" managed to hold strong in its second weekend of release, despite major competition from "Transformers: Rise of the Beasts." To that end, the second "Spider-Verse" film has already outgrossed the original after just two weekends in theaters.
With a $55.5 million second weekend under its belt, "Across the Spider-Verse" has now earned $390 million worldwide. Throughout its entire theatrical run in 2018 and 2019, "Into the Spider-Verse" pulled in $375.4 million. To be clear, that was an absolute win for Sony, given the film's $90 million production budget and near-universal critical acclaim. But it's also apparent that the audience for Miles Morales and the rest of Spidey's multiverse grew substantially over the last four years or so, to the point where the sequel is going to have one of the biggest jumps ever between franchise entries, with perhaps only "Batman Begins" ($48.7 million opening/$356.7 million worldwide)/"The Dark Knight" ($158.4 million opening/$1 billion worldwide) serving as a comparison.
"Across the Spider-Verse" sits at $225.5 million domestically and $164.5 million internationally. By comparison, "Into the Spider-Verse" finished with $190.1 million domestically and $185.2 million internationally. So the sequel has already eclipsed the domestic total by quite a bit, and will soon do the same overseas. The only real question now is just how high the film's global tally will climb before all's said and done.
An amazing, spectacular performance
It's a little difficult to predict exactly how "Across the Spider-Verse" will hold over the rest of the summer. There are many, many big movies heading our way in the coming weeks, including "The Flash," Pixar's "Elemental," "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny," and "Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning — Part One," just to name a handful. Even on the low end, though, we're looking at around $600 million worldwide for "Across the Spider-Verse." If it holds well in the face of stiff competition? That final number could be closer to $700 million than $600 million, which would be downright remarkable.
Regardless, it's all good news for Sony. They now have an extremely viable universe to play in outside of the live-action "Spider-Man" spin-offs they've been making (such as "Venom" and "Morbius"), which have seen mixed financial results. Even better, the next "Spider-Verse film, "Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse," is already well into development and is expected to arrive next year. Thanks to the cliffhanger ending to "Across the Spider-Verse," the trilogy finale also has a strong shot at performing stronger than the second installment.
Of course, all of this assumes that "Beyond" will continue the trend of these movies being generally outstanding. Critics and audiences have resoundingly agreed that the first two "Spider-Verse" films are top-tier superhero films. If the third entry continues that trend? Sony may have one of the all-time greatest trilogies on their hands. No pressure.
"Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse" is currently slated to reach theaters in 2024.