Sony Animation’s “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” is off to a fantastic start at the box office, raking in an impressive $16 million during its preview screenings. A record-breaking $16M Thursday for “Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse”; the 2nd best preview night ever for an animated film – Box Office Mojo. This makes it the second-best preview night ever for an animated movie, trailing only behind Disney/Pixar’s “Incredibles 2,” which earned $18.5 million in previews back in June 2018. It’s worth noting that “Toy Story 4” now takes the third spot with $12 million in preview earnings.
The preview numbers for “Across the Spider-Verse” alone are 4.5 times higher than what the first installment, “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” garnered on its Thursday night, which amounted to $3.5 million. The original film went on to collect $12.6 million on its opening Friday and had a successful three-day opening weekend of $35.3 million. It’s still too early to determine how front-loaded “Across the Spider-Verse” will be in comparison to “Incredibles 2.” The latter had a massive $71.2 million first day, with 26% of that figure coming from Thursday previews. With $182.6 million, “Incredibles 2” holds the record for an animated film’s opening weekend. Projections for “Across the Spider-Verse” currently range from $75 million to $90 million for its opening weekend. Even at the lower end of the spectrum, the sequel is expected to more than double the first film’s opening weekend, which is an impressive feat.
However, predicting the box office performance of “Across the Spider-Verse” is challenging due to several factors. Firstly, it’s a Marvel animated movie, a rarity in itself. Additionally, it boasts one of the longest runtimes among animated films, clocking in at 140 minutes. In terms of animated movies with long runtimes, “Across the Spider-Verse” ties with Funimation/Kyoto Animation’s “Violent Evergarden” in seventh place. The animated film with the longest runtime is Sunao Katabuchi’s “In This Corner (And Other Corners) of the World” at 168 minutes.
The film’s early critical reception has been exceptional, with a certified fresh rating of 95% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 97% audience score. With positive reviews and enthusiastic audience feedback, the future looks promising for “Across the Spider-Verse.” It’s worth noting that the film also outperformed the preview earnings of other live-action Spider-Verse properties, surpassing “Spider-Man: Homecoming,” “Venom: Let There Be Carnage,” “Venom,” and “Spider-Man 3.”
As the weekend progresses, we anticipate more updates on the film’s box office performance.