Warning: this article contains SPOILERS for Spider-Man: No Way Home!

The stellar reviews for Sony and Marvel Studios' latest collaboration, Spider-Man: No Way Home, prove how genius their unconventional marketing campaign and their controversial release method were. The review embargo for No Way Home lifted after last night's Hollywood premiere, and the Rotten Tomatoes score is still holding at a mighty 100% with 47 reviews at the time of writing. The outstanding reviews were unexpected since movies with hype levels comparable to those of the Spider-Man threequel are bound to disappoint critics and general audiences alike, due to the exceedingly high expectations for the film before release.

No Way Home is on track to become the biggest movie of 2021, and potentially the first movie to cross the 1 billion dollar mark after the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. The excitement around this movie is to be expected, as it promises to resolve Spider-Man: Far From Home's shocking cliffhanger while kicking the multiverse into full gear. Even though the rumors of Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield reprising their roles as Spider-Men were enough to generate social media buzz around the film, the hype skyrocketed when the first trailer showed Alfred Molina's Doc Ock and teased Willam Dafoe's Green Goblin return from the Raimi Spider-Man trilogy.

Related: Comparing Spider-Man Movie Rotten Tomatoes Scores (Before No Way Home)

The way Marvel Studios and Sony chose to handle the hype and the endless rumors surrounding the movie was a masterclass in advertising. The success of their plan is reflected by both the perfect Rotten Tomatoes Score and the frenzy that took place when the tickets were released. By refusing to confirm Maguire and Garfield's presence in the film while showing their respective villains, and forcing audiences to watch the film exclusively in theatres, the two studios ensured that the movie will release to critical and financial success.

Doc Ock looks confused as his tentacles appear beside him in Spider-Man: No Way Home.

Rumors surrounding the inclusion of Maguire and Garfield's Spider-Men in No Way Home have been circulating social media platforms and internet forums for the better part of a year. Now that they're confirmed to be in the film, fans are starting to appreciate the studios' decision to hide their involvement in what can be called an aggressive manner. Denying the presence of multiple Spider-Men coupled with the confirmation of all their villains was suggestive of the fact that the studios are being coy about what information they release. Through this, the studios managed to shroud the movie in mystery, and while some have called it "Hollywood's worst kept secret", audiences around the world are counting down the days to see if No Way Home will feature three Spider-Men.

Moreover, in a year dominated by films released directly on streaming services due to the pandemic, the two studios made the bold and controversial choice to release the third MCU Spider-Man film exclusively in theatres. This has succeeded in creating a sense of urgency around the movie's release, which caused movie-goers worldwide to try their best to secure opening day tickets to avoid getting spoiled. This strategy worked exceedingly well, with No Way Home surpassing Avengers: Endgame and claiming the number one spot in most presale tickets sold worldwide.

The movie's marketing campaign toyed with the concept of 'known unknowns' by teasing the other versions of Spider-Man but never showing them, which, when paired with the decision to release the movie exclusively in theaters, succeeded in driving audiences to see the movie as soon as possible both to avoid spoilers and out of sheer curiosity. This indicates that even though a large portion of the public expects Maguire and Garfield to appear in the movie, they would rather confirm that themselves than by getting spoiled, which proves the success of Sony and Marvel Studios' masterstroke of a marketing campaign. While the reviews for the movie might be inflated due to the fact that it's a new type of legacy sequel that is rife with fan service, it is clear that Spider-Man: No Way Home will be a success on all fronts once it releases on December 17th.

More: Spider-Man's New MCU Trilogy Is Bad News For No Way Home

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