Although it should still be considered a success, The Batman's box office is much lower than that of Spider-Man: No Way Home. After nearly two years of uncertainty about the future of the movie-going experience, No Way Home proved that theatrical releases only are still a viable option – at least for blockbusters. Separated by just under three months, Spider-Man: No Way Home and The Batman's box office performances offer interesting insights into the two characters and their franchises as a whole.

Spider-Man: No Way Home marked Jon Watts' third time at the helm of the Spider-Man franchise in a film that celebrated the character's 20-year legacy in theaters. In addition to returning villains from all the Spider-Man movies, Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield also returned to the Spider-Man franchise alongside incumbent Spidey, Tom Holland. While technically a standalone film, No Way Home was an event comparable to the last two Avengers films.

Related: The Batman Easter Eggs & DC References Guide

The Batman sees a younger, inexperienced Bruce Wayne (Robert Pattinson) who is still trying to find himself as a hero. Director Matt Reeves was tasked with reimagining the character in a reboot that moved away from any connection to the DCEU. Even though it was very well received by critics and audiences, The Batman's box office is far lower than No Way Home's.

How Much The Batman Has Made At The Box Office Compared To No Way Home

spider-man on the no way home poster with robert pattinson’s batman in front of him

The Batman opened with $134M in the US and $158.2M overseas for a total of $258.2M over its opening weekend. This places The Batman's box office third on the list of the biggest openings for a Batman movie, behind The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises. Meanwhile, No Way Home opened with a total of $600.8M worldwide, of which $260M came from the domestic box office and $340.8M from the international box office. Spider-Man: No Way Home's box office even surpassed Avengers: Infinity War to become the second-biggest domestic opening for a movie in history, behind only Avengers: Endgame. Globally, No Way Home had the third biggest opening in history – behind Infinity War and Endgame.

In just over two weeks, The Batman has made $598M worldwide. Of that amount, $300M is from the domestic box office and $298M from the international box office. No Way Home, which premiered in December 2021 and has already wrapped up its theatrical run, has claimed $1.8 billion total at the box office - $800M domestically and $1 billion in international revenues. It’s important to remember that The Batman will have a shorter theatrical run than No Way Home. The Batman will release on HBO Max on April 19, marking 45 days of exclusive run in theaters. No Way Home, on the other hand, had a window of approximately 90 days between its theatrical release and home release.

Why Spider-Man: No Way Home Was Such A Huge Box Office Success

The three Spider-Men posing together with their masks off in Spider-Man No Way Home

Many reasons made Spider-Man: No Way Home one of the biggest box office phenomena in recent history. Aside from the fact that it's a Spider-Man movie, something that's always tied to good box office results regardless of the quality of each film, No Way Home benefited from being the third entry in what is the most successful Spider-Man franchise to date. Spider-Man: Far From Home had been the first Spidey movie to break the $1 billion barrier (not correcting the previous films for the inflation), and its sequel was already expected to do at least similar numbers. Tom Holland's Spider-Man won over audiences and also benefited from being a part of major crossover events like Infinity War and Endgame.

Related: All 9 Spider-Man Movies Ranked (Including No Way Home)

However, the biggest reason for the resounding success of No Way Home is the Multiversal aspect of the story. Months before the movie release, rumors and leaks about Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield reprising their roles as Spider-Man dominated social media and created an organic hype that no marketing campaign could match. The mere possibility of seeing Maguire and Garfield return to the role of Spider-Man in the MCU alongside Holland was enough to turn “the third film in the Homecoming trilogy” into one of the most anticipated events of the last decade.

Even without 10 years of build-up like the Infinity Saga had, No Way Home's trailers, secrecy, and overall marketing approach created a level of hype comparable to Infinity War and Endgame – something that until recently seemed impossible. With the MCU's steady success over the past decade, audiences may have forgotten about Spider-Man's power as a brand. All this potential added to the nostalgia element and the mystery about Maguire’s and Garfield's being or not in the film made it a must-see movie - which explains not only No Way Home's opening weekend box office, but that of its entire theatrical run. This feat becomes even more impressive considering that the world is still going through a pandemic, with many people still not feeling safe to return to movie theaters often.

Why The Batman's Box Office Couldn't Beat Spider-Man: No Way Home

Spider-Man No Way Home Batman Challenge Box Office

Batman and Spider-Man are nearly equivalent characters in terms of brand recognition, both domestically and globally. However, when it comes to current Spider-Man and Batman movie franchises, it cannot be denied that there is a gap between the two characters. The most obvious difference is that No Way Home is the third film in a series while The Batman is the beginning of a new Batman iteration. While No Way Home represented the conclusion of the first Spider-Man trilogy in the MCU, The Batman had to deal with being yet another Batman reboot – the second in the last six years. There’s also a difference in the runtime, with The Batman being roughly 30 minutes longer than No Way Home, meaning fewer screenings per day for theaters.

Additionally, Spider-Man: No Way Home's box office benefited from being part of the MCU, a saga whose financial potential cannot be matched by any other franchise. The Batman, on the other hand, was released as something apart from the DCEU canon precisely because the current DC shared universe has been struggling both in winning the audiences and in the overall planning of the universe. In fact, there are currently three Batmans taking place simultaneously in DC movies: Robert Pattinson in The Batman and Ben Affleck and Michael Keaton in The Flash. Although The Batman's reviews were strong and there was excitement, it wasn't at the same level of No Way Home's multiple Spider-Men hype.

Related: The Batman Ending Explained (In Detail)

Why The Batman Is Still A Box Office Success

The Batman box office billion

Even if it doesn’t break the billion-dollar barrier, which is the most likely outcome, or making far less than Spider-Man: No Way Home, The Batman's box office is a success for both DC and Warner Bros. With almost four weeks before the end of its run, The Batman has surpassed Godzilla vs Kong as WB's highest-grossing film of the past two years. The film will also finish as the third-highest grossing Batman movie, behind only the last two movies in the Dark Knight trilogy, and has made a clear profit for WB. For a solo movie with no connection to a shared universe whatsoever, The Batman is shaping up to be a very solid hit.

Next: Every Batman Movie Ranked Worst To Best (Including The Batman)

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