Road to Infinity War - SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING Retrospective


Welcome to the Road to AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR. This is my own little retrospective of each of Marvel Studios' films every week of 2018 and by the time I am done looking back at all of the MCU movies, Infinity War will be releasing in theaters in the U.S. on May 4 worldwide on April 27. 

I've already talked about IRON MAN, THE INCREDIBLE HULK, IRON MAN 2, THOR, CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER, and THE AVENGERS to conclude Phase 1.

I have also completed Phase 2 with IRON MAN 3, THOR: THE DARK WORLD, CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER, GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON, and ANT-MAN.

Now, I'm on to Phase 3 with CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR, DOCTOR STRANGE and GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2 in the rearview mirror. Up next is SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING ... the solo movie Marvel fans everywhere never thought they would see based within the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

What a tremendous moment for many fans, myself included, as it was only in dreams to even think to see a Spider-Man movie set within the confines of the MCU. For me, once the movie started, I couldn't stop smiling from start-to-finish because one of my favorite superheroes I have loved since I was a child — and I am a child of the early 80s, so one of my first exposures to Spidey was through the late 70s television series — was finally on his way to becoming an Avenger on the big screen.

Marvel Studios was able to do something with this Spidey movie which was different than in past introductory/origin superhero films and that was to bypass the entire origin tale. This was done for two reasons: the first was the fact there were two previous Spider-Man movie franchises in the 2000s with each one covering Peter Parker's origin, and the second reason was Spider-Man had already been introduced into the Marvel Cinematic Universe through CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR. It was a brilliant plan that allowed filmmakers to focus on telling Parker's story post-Civil War instead of the need to spend two-thirds of a film telling how he got his powers and learned to use them. The mainstream audience was more-than-familiar with Spidey's origin and bypassing it entirely was executed to perfection.

The biggest news out of the development and pre-production process for SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING was how it would have a vibe influenced by director John Hughes 80s movies. A coming-into-his-own-type of story for Peter Parker after already getting a taste of the Avengers-like action in Civil War but now going back to his real life as well as heading back to school. Both of which are not nearly as exciting after fight against, and with, members of the Avengers.

Production on Homecoming went very smoothly as Sony paid for the production budget, as well as the marketing budget, for the movie, plus Sony distributed the film. And then Marvel Studios led the charge with its story as well as the physical production, filming, and post-production of the film. Sony took home all box office profits, since they paid all the bills to make the movie. Meanwhile, Disney and Marvel Studios reaped the profit rewards for all toy and merchandise sales while also having the ability to bring Spider-Man into any of their other MCU films without approval needed by Sony, who still own the live action franchise rights of all-things Spider-Man. A true win-win for all parties involved, but especially for Spidey fans.

The only big hiccup when during the press rounds prior to the release of the film when producer, and former Sony Pictures head, Amy Pascal was asked if actor Tom Holland's Spider-Man would crossover between the MCU and Sony's own, separate Spider-Man movie universe Sony is now building; starting with this fall's release of VENOM. The look on Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige's face is priceless as she answered and you can check it out by clicking right here.



On July 7, 2017, SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING opened domestically with $117 million. A solid opening for Spidey who had seen his opening weekends drop-off in the last two films under Sony's AMAZING SPIDER-MAN franchise reboot attempt ($62 million and $92 million, respectively.)

Inherently, SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING and its box office performance would be compared more to past Spider-Man movies more so than being compared to past Marvel Studios film releases. In comparing it to past Spidey movies, Homecoming was Sony's second biggest opening only behind the $151 million opening weekend by SPIDER-MAN 3.

Domestically, Homecoming took in a total of $334 million. This was more than both of the AMAZING SPIDER-MAN movies ( $262M and $202M respectively), but it fell short of all three of director Sam Raimi's SPIDER-MAN trilogy films ($403M, $373M, and $336M, respectively).

Internationally, SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING brought in $546 million for a global total of $880 million. This firmly planted Homecoming as Sony's second highest grossing Spider-Man movie falling just over $10 million short of the $890 million SPIDER-MAN 3 made, in 2007.

After stale box office performances from both AMAZING SPIDER-MAN films, Marvel Studios helped put Spider-Man back on-track as both studios green lit a sequel for SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING, which begins filming in summer 2018, for its July 5, 2019 release.

Written by Daniel Wolf, Founder & Publisher


Previous Road to Infinity War Posts:
Road to Infinity War: GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2 Retrospective

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