‘Spider-Man’ swings to one of year’s highest openings

LOS ANGELES—Audiences found themselves caught in Spidey’s web at this weekend’s box office.

Sony’s “Spider- Man: Homecoming,” the sixth movie with the radioactive arachnidhero in 15 years, landed in first place in its debut week. Pulling in an estimated $117 million in the U.S. and Canada, it surpassed both the studio’s conservative projections of $80 million and analysts’ $90 million to $100 million expectations.

“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 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 and Disney-owned Marvel Studios. “Spider-Man” is Sony’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,” Sony agreed to let Marvel produce the next film.

Why hand producing duties to a rival? Sony, which financed the movie’s production and marketing and is handling distribution, needed to keep its key property alive, and Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige has an extraordinary track record making superhero movies featuring Iron Man, Thor and Ant-Man. Though Marvel won’t reap the profits from “Homecoming,” it stands to benefit as it owns the lucrative merchandise rights to the character.

The result of the deal is that “Homecoming” is the first Spider-Man film to take place in the Marvel cinematic universe.