Despite delivering a strong debut for Sony Pictures and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming under-performed significantly in its second weekend at the box office.
With an estimated domestic gross of $44.2 million, the film experienced a 62.2 percent drop compared to its first weekend total of $117 million, representing the worst first-to-second week drop of any MCU film to date. Still, Marvel probably isn’t hitting the panic button given that Homecoming’s drop isn’t too far off from several other films in the MCU (via Box Office Mojo).
| MCU Film (Year/# of Theaters) | Opening Weekend | Second Weekend | Percentage Drop Between |
| Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017/4,348) | $117 million | $44.2 million | 62.2 percent |
| Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017/4,347) | $145 million | $65.3 million | 55.5 percent |
| Doctor Strange (2016/3,882) | $85.1 million | $42.9 million | 49.5 percent |
| Captain America: Civil War (2016/4,226) | $179.1 million | $72.6 million | 59.5 percent |
| Ant-Man (2015/3,856) | $57.2 million | $24.9 million | 56.5 percent |
| Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015/4,276) | $191.3 million | $77.7 million | 59.4 percent |
| Guardians of the Galaxy (2014/4,080) | $94.3 million | $42.1 million | 55.3 percent |
| Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014/3,938) | $95 million | $41.3 million | 56.6 percent |
| Thor: The Dark World (2013/3,841) | $85.7 million | $36.6 million | 57.3 percent |
| Iron Man 3 (2013/4,253) | $174.1 million | $72.5 million | 58.4 percent |
| Marvel’s The Avengers (2012/4,349) | $207.4 million | $103.1 million | 50.3 percent |
| Captain America: The First Avenger (2011/3,715) | $65.1 million | $25.5 million | 60.7 percent |
| Thor (2011/3,955) | $65.7 million | $34.7 million | 42.7 percent |
| Iron Man 2 (2010/4,380) | $128.1 million | $52 million | 59.4 percent |
| The Incredible Hulk (2008/3,505) | $55.4 million | $22.1 million | 60.1 percent |
| Iron Man (2008/4,105) | $98.6 million | $51.2 million | 48.1 percent |
Both The Incredible Hulk and Captain America: The First Avenger suffered more than a 60 percent dip, while three other films — Iron Man 2, Avengers: Age of Ultron, and Captain America: Civil War — all experienced a drop of more than 59 percent. In fact, only Iron Man, Thor, and Doctor Strange saw dips of less than 50 percent, which means that Homecoming isn’t necessarily an outlier for MCU.
There are likely a variety of factors that influenced Homecoming’s dramatic box office drop, including stiff competition from War for the Planet of the Apes, which opened with $56.5 million in earnings. Still, it’s interesting to see Homecoming struggling to maintain its numbers when the most recent superhero film prior to its release, DC’s Wonder Woman, is reportedly holding better at the box office than any film in the genre over the last 15 years. Spider-Man: Homecoming currently has a 92% certified fresh rating on RottenTomatoes, but it’s also the third Spider-Man reboot in fifteen years. Could franchise fatigue be a factor in the film’s less-than-stellar returns?
Despite the box office drop, I’m sure Spider-Man is going to be just fine, especially since we’re less than a year away from his next appearance in the much-anticipated Avengers: Infinity War, which opens May 4, 2018.
(Via: IGN)
