Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse Lands $113 Million+ Debut At Earth-1218 Box Office

Greetings, citizens of Earth-1218. Our sources are reporting strange activity across multiple dimensions, coinciding with the release of "Spider-Man: Across the Multiverse" in theaters. The animated film follows our web-slinging friends Miles Morales (from Earth-1610) and Gwen Stacy (from Earth-65) as they tangle with an intangible villain known as the Spot, discover an elite multiverse-spanning superhero team known as the Spider-Force, and deal with their awkward teenage feelings for one another.

2018's "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" was a box office success, grossing $384 million worldwide from a $90 million production budget. "Across the Spider-Verse" is slightly more costly at $100 million, but early numbers indicate that it will have no problem breaking even — at least, on our version of Earth. The movie surpassed earlier opening day estimates to reach a massive $51.7 million by the end of Friday (including previews), scoring the biggest opening day of 2023 so far. 

Sony Pictures (via The Hollywood Reporter) conservatively estimates that "Across the Spider-Verse" will gross $113.5 million over the three-day weekend, but The Wrap and Deadline both report that it could climb to $125 million or even higher. That wide range of estimates is indicative of just how much of a wild card this movie is. As one distribution source commented to Deadline: "It's an animated film, it's not an animated film, and it's a Marvel film, it's not a Marvel film."

"Across the Spider-Verse" is buoyed by an overwhelmingly positive reception from critics and general audiences alike. It has a rating of 95% on Rotten Tomatoes, and received an A CinemaScore from exit polling. It probably doesn't hurt, either, that the first movie won Best Animated Feature at the 2019 Oscars. 

To give you an idea of just how huge a hit "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" is for Sony Pictures Animation, it had already surpassed the studio's previous biggest opening weekend ("Hotel Transylvania," with $48.4 million) even before counting Saturday and Sunday ticket sales. It will gross more than triple the $35 million opening weekend for "Into the Spider-Verse," and could come closer to quadrupling it. 

Needless to say, Sony's decision to green light two "Spider-Verse" sequels is already paying off richly. "Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse" may benefit from not leaving audiences with too long a wait: it's scheduled for release less than 10 months from now, on March 29, 2024.

Overseas, "Across the Spider-Verse" had grossed $13.5 million through Thursday, per Deadline, more than doubling the first movie's international opening like-for-like. "Into the Spider-Verse" ultimately ended up with a pretty even split between domestic and overseas box office, so the sequels could do the same. 

We also checked in across the multiverse to find out how the movie is faring in other dimensions. It's not making much headway on Earth-3290, where Steven Skrullberg's "Bridge of Skrulls" remains No. 1 at the box office for a 383rd consecutive weekend. Analysts on Earth-42 say that box office numbers have become harder to verify since the Sinister Six stole all of their calculators in a mean-spirited prank. Meanwhile, our sources on Earth-2149 just transmitted lots of strange groaning noises. 

We hope to bring you more concrete numbers once we finish building our super-collider. Watch this sp-