Across The Spider-Verse’ Earns $120 Million—One Of 2023’s Biggest Debuts

Topline

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse earned the No. 1 spot at the box office this weekend, drawing a surprising $120.5 million in domestic sales, marking the second-biggest opening of 2023, Sony Pictures Entertainment said Sunday.

Key Facts

The latest animated Spider-Man film had a smaller opening weekend than The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which earned $146.4 million in domestic theaters during its premiere two months ago, according to Box Office Mojo.

On top of the large domestic showing, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse brought in $88.5 million overseas, bringing its global total for the weekend to $208.6 million, Sony Pictures Entertainment said.

The film saw its largest international audiences in China ($17.3 million in sales), Mexico ($11.6 million) and the U.K. ($11.5 million).

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is Sony Pictures’ biggest animated opening of all time, the studio said, and it earned nearly three times as much as the film’s prequel Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse did in 2018.

The most successful Spider-Man film remains 2021’s live-action movie Spider-Man: No Way Home, which drew $260.1 million in its first weekend before eventually earning a total of $804.8 million in U.S. theaters throughout its run.

Key Background

The movie comes five years after the first animated Spider-Man film was released. Shameik Moore and Hailee Steinfeld voice the film’s main characters Miles and Gwen. Brian Tyree Henry, Issa Rae, Oscar Isaac, Daniel Kaluuya and Jason Schwartzman round out the voice cast. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse has a 95% rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, and a 96% score from audiences.

Tangent

Meanwhile, the live-action Disney remake The Little Mermaid slipped into the No. 2 spot domestically, earning an additional $40.6 million in its second weekend in theaters, according to the Hollywood Reporter. The Disney film has earned a total of $186.2 million after its two weeks in theaters. The Boogeyman, a new horror film based on a Stephen King story, took the No. 3 spot, bringing in $12.3 million domestically in its first weekend.

What To Watch For

A sequel to the film entitled Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse will be released in 2024.

Further Reading

Live-Action ‘The Little Mermaid’ Remake Wins Big With $118 Million Premiere Weekend (Forbes)