Could the Pandemic Stop ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ From Beating ‘Avengers: Endgame’ at the Box Office?
Spider-Man: Away From Home left fans in a bit of a cliffhanger as Mysterio announced to the whole world Spider-Man‘s identity. Afterward, fans began speculating what beholds the friendly neighborhood superhero’s future and his chances of ever living a normal life. There has been plenty of back and forth regarding the details for Spider-Man: No Way Home, with the film experiencing some delays due to the coronavirus. So could the pandemic stop Spider-Man: No Way Home from beating Avengers: Endgame at the box office? Find out.
The ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ trailer broke records
Marvel Studios hadn’t yet released an official trailer for the upcoming film No Way Home, but somehow it found its way online. On August 22, Sony and Marvel found themselves frantically trying to get ahead of the leaked No Way Home trailer by erasing any record of it off the internet. However, even their resources proved too little for the determined Marvel fans who had already shared it and viewed it many times.
The partnering companies had no choice but to release an official teaser trailer the following day, on August 23. In the trailer, we see Peter Parker dealing with the aftermath of Mysterio outing him to the world. Law enforcement began questioning Peter about the terror attacks mainly caused by the tech Tony Stark gifted him.
Since he cannot deal with all the backslash, Peter approaches Doctor Strange to reverse time back to when everyone didn’t know who he was. That is until things go wrong, and they end up unleashing all sorts of evil from the timeline.
After Sony released the teaser trailer, the company released a press statement declaring that No Way Home had broken a record for the highest number of views. The trailer received 255.5 million views in its first 24 hours.
This record seemingly eclipses Avengers: Endgame, which previously held the record for most views in a day with 289 million views. The trailer also surpassed Endgame in most social media mentions. Endgame had 194 million mentions in a day, while No Way Home had 291 million social media mentions in 24 hours.
What are the film’s chances of performing well given the pandemic?
Given the hype of the Spider-Man franchise, No Way Home stands a huge chance of performing well even with the raging Delta variant. Sony has had to delay some of its significant productions due to the pandemic, including the widely successful sequel Venom: Let There Be Carnage.
Marvel has had success with Shang Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings, and it is cautious with the highly anticipated No Way Home release. Although No Way Home currently looks at a December 17 release date, reports indicate that Marvel and Sony are still weighing the unpredictable nature of the pandemic.
Still, fans theorize that No Way Home will be Marvel’s biggest movie yet, with one Twitter user saying that fans want to watch the film in crowds. However, others disagree, claiming the pandemic might actually be No Way Home’s undoing as the December release puts it at a disadvantage, with winter being the “viral transmission season.”
Will ‘No Way Home’ suffer the same dual release fate as ‘Black Widow’?
The highly anticipated Black Widow got pushed back from 2020 to 2021 and had a dual release after Disney released it in theatres and its streaming service Disney+. Variety reports that Black Widow made $60 million on the streaming service coupled with the $158 million it made at the box office.
Considering Disney used Black Widow as somewhat of an experiment for other films to follow the same dual-format release, the decision didn’t sit right with its headliner, who sued the company for breach of contract. However, a press release by Sony confirmed that No Way Home would premiere exclusively in movie theaters on the slated date.
