Spider-Man: Homecoming Thursday Box Office

Screen Rant

Spider-Man: Homecoming Thursday Box Office Tops Wonder Woman

By Chris Agar

Published Jul 7, 2017

Spider-Man: Homecoming is off to a great start at the box office, raking in $15.4 million from preview screenings Thursday night.

Spider-Man: Homecoming is off to a great start at the box office, taking in $15.4 million from preview screenings on Thursday night. The film, which serves as Peter Parker's first solo vehicle in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, was greatly anticipated due to its Avengers tie-ins, and the final product seems to have lived up to the hype. The reviews have widely praised Homecoming for being a fun superhero romp that stands on its own merits without getting dragged down by its shared universe obligations - making it the best-received Spider-Man film since Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 2.

Because of the enthusiasm and word-of-mouth, Homecoming was expected to be a rare bright spot in an otherwise disappointing summer movie season, joining the ranks of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Wonder Woman as bona fide blockbusters. Heading into the weekend, projections pegged Homecoming for an opening weekend in the range of $100-120 million, and it looks to be on its way to reaching those figures.

According to The Wrap, the newest Spider-Man movie is looking at a haul of $15.4 million from Thursday night showings. This means Homecoming has topped the first night grosses of several other superhero movies, including Deadpool, Guardians of the Galaxy, Wonder Woman, and Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The Tom Holland vehicle would also top the efforts of previous big screen Peter Parkers; Spider-Man 3 brought in $10 million from previews, while The Amazing Spider-Man 2 netted $8.7 million.

It isn't surprising that Homecoming is proving to be this successful. Not only have fans and critics taken to it, the demand for a rousingly entertaining summer tentpole was quite high before it premiered. Wonder Woman came out over a month ago, and since then, the landscape has been quite barren with the likes of The Mummy and Transformers: The Last Knight stumbling out of the gates. Edgar Wright's Baby Driver has done well commercially, but that heist film is obviously a different kind of project (with its own target audience) than the typical big-budget fare that fuels these months at the box office. Homecoming sports the classic wide cross-generational appeal of the best blockbusters and has arrived at just the right time.

What will be fascinating to keep track of, however, is the strength of Homecoming's legs. It's set to have some stark competition in the coming weeks in the form of War for the Planet of the Apes and Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk. However, there could be enough money to go around for all of these due to the differences in tone. Where as Apes and Dunkirk look to be darker, hard-hitting depictions of conflict, Homecoming is a light-hearted, youthful affair that should be more family friendly than Caesar or World War II. We could be entering a lucrative stretch in summer 2017, which is just what Hollywood needs right now.