Eat your heart out, Avengers: Endgame; there's a new internet-breaking, theater-flooding blockbuster in your cinematic universe. Spider-Man: No Way Home saw Fandango ticket presales start on Monday and in just two hours, it broke the record for most first-day presales of 2021 previously held by Black Widow. Moreover, No Way Home's presales were the site's biggest since Endgame in 2019, a film that saw the largest domestic opening by a film in U.S. history at $357 million
Fears that the ongoing pandemic would kill the blockbuster can be put to rest for now, as No Way Home is handily beating previous pre-pandemic films like Avengers: Infinity War and the latest slew of Star Wars films. The film will open exclusively in theaters on December 17 and, via a Fandango poll of 2,000 customers, it was obviously rated the most anticipated film of the winter. It's not entirely a shock that the film is getting this much attention in advance sales, but it's still an impressive feat given current challenges.
"Spider-Man: No Way Home promises to wrap a bow around 20 years of live-action Spider-Man movies, and anticipation is through the roof with fans anxious to see how Tom Holland's Homecoming trilogy concludes," said Fandango Managing Editor Erik Davis in a statement regarding the film's overwhelming popularity. "The most anticipated film of the season promises to deliver surprises on every level and December 17th can't come soon enough." Spider-Man's previous outing, Far From Home, grossed over $1.1 billion worldwide and it seems entirely possible now that No Way Home could approach that number.
No Way Home picks up right where Far From Home left off in the Holland Spider-Man universe. After Spider-Man's true identity is revealed to the world, Peter Parker's balancing act between the life of a teenage boy and that of an Avenger is thrown out of whack. He goes to Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) for help, but the spell he conjures backfires, bringing villains from Spider-Man franchises past to Peter's world. Doc Ock (Alfred Molina), Electro (Jamie Foxx), and the Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe) all return in a climactic battle to restore Spider-Man's reality and save the multiverse. The film also sees the return of Zendaya as MJ along with Jacob Batalon, Jon Favreau, and Marisa Tomei.
Even with the insane presales, it's hard to see a world where No Way Home breaks the $357 million opening mark set by Endgame, but it is likely we'll see a new high for a pandemic release. If sales keep at this pace, it's possible we could see the first pandemic-era film reaching the $200 million mark for its domestic opening. Anything is possible when dealing with the MCU and especially Spider-Man. Spider-Man: No Way Home comes to theaters on December 17.