“Spider-Man: Homecoming” Flies High Above the Competition to a Stunning $117 Million Opening

	Film	Weekend	Opening Weekend	Current Gross
	Spider-Man: Homecoming	$117m	$117m	$117m
	Despicable Me 3	$33.5m	$72.4m	$148.7m
	Baby Driver	$13m	$20.5m	$57.1m
	Wonder Woman	$9.8m	$103.2m	$368.4m
	Transformers: The Last Knight	$6.3m	$44.6m	$118.9m

Movies fell into their predicted spots at the box office over the weekend, but Spider-Man: Homecoming‘s astonishing $117 million opening, several million higher than most predictions had it making in its first weekend, did skew things slightly. The remainder of the top five movies made slightly less than expected and some of that has to be from Spider-Man‘s massive opening.

With $117 million, Spider-Man: Homecoming became the third-highest opening of the year, more than Wonder Woman‘s $103.2 million opening and less than Guardian of the Galaxy, Vol. 2‘s $146.5 million opening. It also narrowly edged out Sam Raimi’s first Spider-Man film in 2002 to become the second-highest opening of all the Spider-Man films (it couldn’t beat 2007’s Spider-Man 3 $151 million opening). As if all that wasn’t enough, Spider-Man: Homecoming, more than anything, a reason to get your friendly neighborhood web-slinger into the Marvel Cinematic Universe (if you were wondering why we’re already on our third iteration of the character), has also become the biggest opening of a solo character’s introductory film in the MCU, beating Iron Man‘s $98.6 million by a long shot. Now, as with any other film in a franchise, it’s time to wait and see just how well this movie will fare compared to all its brethren and where it will end up ranking.

Internationally, the film opened in several markets, bringing its foreign total to $139.5 million and its global total to $256.5 million, which is an excellent start to what should be a lucrative future as it will quickly rise through the ranks. Furthermore, it has yet to open in China, and that will certainly make its numbers skyrocket even higher. By the time its second weekend is done, it will soar past several other films in the MCU.

Sony Pictures

The stories for the remaining movies over the weekend are, for the most part, exactly what you’d expect. Despicable Me 3 dropped a little over 50 percent with a $33.5 million intake. Its domestic total is now just shy of $150 million as its foreign numbers continue to bring in most of the money. Globally, the film is at $447 million, and by next weekend, it will surpass $150 and $450 million domestically and globally, respectively. It’s still the least successful film of the Despicable Me franchise and in all likelihood, this won’t change when it ends its theater run (at the very least, it may beat the first Despicable Me film but that still remains a big question mark). Within the Illumination family, it’s not faring much better. It’s the seventh-highest film domestically and sixth-highest film globally, out of eight, within the company’s list of movies.

Next, Baby Driver dropped only 36.7 percent, bringing its domestic total to $57.1 million and its global total to $71.1 million. It’s by far the most successful of Edgar Wright’s films, well over $20 million higher than his previous biggest film Stateside, Scott Pilgrim vs the World, which made $31.5 million. It’s still only the second-highest film globally, but it’s only $9 million behind Hot Fuzz, so it won’t be second-best for long.

With a sixth-week intake just below $10 million, Wonder Woman, with $368.4 million, has officially become the tenth-highest superhero film domestically of all time and is only $5 million away from surpassing Spider-Man 2 to become the ninth-highest. Its global total is now at $745.5 million and less than $50,000 away from surpassing Suicide Squad to become the second-highest film globally in the DC Extended Universe. To say it’s one of the most surprising and successful films of the year already would be an understatement.

Warner Bros. Pictures

Finally, Transformers: The Last Knight, the fifth installment in the franchise, dropped another abysmal 62.2 percent, making less than $7 million in just its third week. Its domestic total is now $118.9 million and its global total is only a few million shy of $500 million. Like Despicable Me 3, The Last Knight is not faring well at all within the larger franchise. It’s well over $100 million away from beating Age of Extinction, the fourth-highest film in the universe, and more than $200 million away from beating the first Transformers flick on the global stage. Will it be able to accomplish either of these feats? Unlikely.

The Big Sick, the new romantic comedy from real-life couple Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V Gordon and based on their relationship, grew an astonishing 117 percent as it expanded to just 326 theaters and brought in $3.5 million in its third week. Its cumulative total is now $6.8 million as it prepares for its wide release this week, where we’re expecting it to deliver some big numbers. Sofia Coppola’s The Beguiled also continued to do well as it expanded to 941 theaters for a domestic total of $7.4 million.

(Source: boxoffice.com, boxofficemojo.com. Figures represent numbers at time of writing, and may have changed.)

Anya Crittenton | Associate Editor