The China Mail - 'Spider-Man' soars to huge $355 million opening in North America

The opening was the second-biggest in domestic box office history, only behind "Avengers: Endgame" (2019) at $357 million, not adjusted for inflation, according to Box Office Mojo.

The film -- which also stars Zendaya (who happens to be Holland's wife), Mark Ruffalo, Florence Pugh, and Sadie Sink -- sees Peter Parker living in isolation after he erased his identity from the world, confronting a personal transformation and new threats.

"This is a colossal opening," said analyst David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research.

"The summer has been without a big action title for nine weeks -- an eternity at the box office. The market is ripe-ripe-ripe for this film."

"Spider-Man" -- the ninth live-action film featuring the hero, previously played by Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield -- earned an additional $573 million abroad, according to industry tracker Exhibitor Relations.

That puts its worldwide total at a staggering $928 million.

"Overseas business should be more than 60% of the worldwide total, with good news already coming out of China (a rarity now)," Gross said.

Christopher Nolan's latest blockbuster, "The Odyssey," held its own in second place at $51 million, for a total of nearly $400 million in the United States and Canada.

Based on Homer's ancient epic poem, the Universal film tracks hero Odysseus (Matt Damon) as he faces obstacle after obstacle on his way home from the Trojan War. Anne Hathaway and Holland co-star as his wife Penelope and son Telemachus.

"The combination of 'Spider-Man' and 'The Odyssey' -- a legacy superhero sequel and a big original production -- is taking the box office to new highs by a comfortable margin," Gross said.

Disney-Pixar's "Toy Story 5" took third place with $6.3 million, and another animated effort, Universal's "Minions & Monsters," took fourth place at $5.8 million.

Fifth place went to "Moana," Disney's latest live-action remake of one of its animated hits, with $5.3 million.

Rounding out the top 10 were:

"Hadestown: The Musical" ($2 million)

"The Invite" ($1.2 million)

"I Want Your Sex" ($600,000)

"Evil Dead Burn" ($525,000)

"Young Washington" ($478,000)

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