LOS ANGELES -- Audiences found themselves caught in Spidey's web at lastweekend's box office.
Columbia's Spider-Man: Homecoming, the sixth movie with the radioactive arachnid-bitten hero in 15 years, landed in first place in its debut week. Pulling in about $117 million in U.S. and Canadian theaters, it surpassed the studio's conservative projections.
"Spider-Man is back and he's showing once again that he's the world's best-loved superhero," said Adrian Smith, the studio's distribution chief. "It's a big win for Sony [Columbia] in our second-highest opening of all time."
Starring Tom Holland -- the third actor to play the lead character -- and directed by Jon Watts, the $175 million picture is the result of an unusual collaboration between Sony/Columbia and Disney-owned Marvel Studios. Spider-Man is Columbia's most valuable franchise, totaling $4 billion in global box-office receipts since the series started in 2002 with Tobey Maguire. But after 2014's underwhelming The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Columbia agreed to let Marvel produce the next film.
"The deal appears to have paid off with a film that celebrates what makes Spider-Man unique and relatable and still retains that Marvel signature," Smith said.
Landing in second place was Universal's Despicable Me 3 with about $34 million in its second week. The animated flick has grossed about $149 million domestically to date. The film's international total to date is $298.4 million for a worldwide gross of $447.6 million.
Columbia's Baby Driver took third place in its second week with $13 million. It has pulled in about $57 million domestically to date.
Powerhouse superhero Wonder Woman, from Warner Bros., is still holding strong in fourth place, six weeks after its record-breaking debut, with $9.8 million. Globally, the film has about a $768 million tally.
Rounding out the top five was Paramount's Transformers: The Last Knight with about $6.4 million in its third week.
In limited release, A Ghost Story from A24 -- the studio that brought us the Oscar-winning Moonlight -- started with $108,067 from four screens last weekend. That's a per-theater average of $27,012. From director David Lowery, the film co-stars Oscar-winner Casey Affleck and Rooney Mara.
This weekend, debuting will be Fox's War for the Planet of the Apes and the Broad Green Pictures' horror flick Wish Upon.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by comScore:
Spider-Man: Homecoming, Columbia, $117,027,503, 4,348 locations, $26,915 average, $117,027,503, one week.
Despicable Me 3, Universal, $33,580,425, 4,535 locations, $7,405 average, $148,771,085, two weeks.
Baby Driver, Columbia, $13,002,721, 3,226 locations, $4,031 average, $57,135,793, two weeks.
Wonder Woman, Warner Bros., $9,822,105, 3,091 locations, $3,178 average, $368,473,296, six weeks.
Transformers: The Last Knight, Paramount, $6,376,578, 3,241 locations, $1,967 average, $118,993,338, three weeks.
Cars 3, Disney, $5,382,248, 2,702 locations, $1,992 average, $133,479,660, four weeks.
The House, Warner Bros., $4,778,272, 3,134 locations, $1,525 average, $18,593,950, two weeks.
The Big Sick, Lionsgate, $3,576,646, 326 locations, $10,971 average, $6,846,969, three weeks.
47 Meters Down, Entertainment Studios Motion Pictures, $2,714,173, 1,741 locations, $1,559 average, $38,407,911, four weeks.
The Beguiled, Focus Features, $2,062,675, 941 locations, $2,192 average, $7,412,009, three weeks.
Pirates Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, Disney, $1,187,170, 1,039 locations, $1,143 average, $168,812,467, seven weeks.
The Mummy, Universal, $1,185,925, 1,045 locations, $1,135 average, $77,996,195, five weeks.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Disney, $860,020, 660 locations, $1,303 average, $385,560,026, 10 weeks.
Ninnu Kori, Independent Indian, $640,519, 144 locations, $4,448 average, $640,519, one week.
All Eyez on Me, Lionsgate, $606,390, 599 locations, $1,012 average, $44,316,429, four weeks.
The Hero, The Orchard, $594,066, 447 locations, $1,329 average, $2,753,061, five weeks.
Beatriz at Dinner, Roadside Attractions, $520,142, 419 locations, $1,241 average, $5,981,482, five weeks.
Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie, 20th Century Fox, $332,106, 407 locations, $816 average, $70,535,646, six weeks.
Rough Night, Columbia, $273,326, 388 locations, $704 average, $21,506,528, four weeks.
Megan Leavey, Bleecker Street, $237,658, 254 locations, $936 average, $12,465,780, five weeks.
MovieStyle on 07/14/2017