After over a year of suffering due to the pandemic, the box office is truly back in action thanks to Spider-Man: No Way Home. Viral speculation and immense anticipation for the Avengers-level outing recently allowed it to topple its way into the top three biggest opening weekends of all-time globally alongside Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame.
Ever since 2012's The Avengers, the MCU has been a force to be reckoned with at the box office with ten billion-dollar flicks now under its belt. Those ten are part of only 48 films in movie history to have ever crossed the coveted milestone.
The popularity of the globally recognized franchise has worked wonders for many actors' careers, not least of all Tom Holland, who was cast into his starring role as Spider-Man at only nineteen years old. As No Way Home continues to cross milestones, the British star has joined a select few actors in an exclusive box office club.
Tom Holland Joins Exclusive Box Office Club
Spider-Man: No Way Home crossed the billion-dollar mark at the box office on Christmas Day, only ten days after release. The wall-crawler's blockbuster became the first film to cross the mark since the pandemic began, with the last being 2019's Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
With the milestone, Tom Holland became only the seventh actor to have appeared in five billion-dollar grossing flicks - these being Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, Spider-Man: Far From Home, and Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Among Holland on the list, published by Forbes, are Captain America star Chris Evans, Black Widow actress Scarlett Johansson, War Machine actor Don Cheadle, and Lord of the Rings' Andy Serkis. Moving beyond even that mark with six movies having hit the $1B milestone are Iron Man star Robert Downey Jr and Nick Fury actor Samuel L. Jackson.
How High Will No Way Home Swing?
Currently, five actors are sitting just below Tom Holland with four billion-dollar flicks under their belts - Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner, Lupita Nyong'o, and Anthony Daniels. With Thor: Love and Thunder under a year away and anticipation being through the roof, the star behind the God of Thunder may well be the next to join the club.
Based on Holland's upcoming filmography, the actor appears unlikely to have another billion-dollar flick for the foreseeable future, which may come whenever his fourth Spider-Man outing or a fifth Avengers blockbuster hits theaters. With Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury lined up to appear in 2022's The Marvels, the legendary actor may well become the first actor with seven films to hit the milestone after the excellent performance of Captain Marvel.
Spider-Man: No Way Home looks to be Marvel Studios' last theatrical release until Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness hits theaters in May 2022, and it's certainly sending the year out with a bang. The Multiversal flick is performing amazingly, even by pre-pandemic standards, leaving some to question how insane the box office figures could be without the pandemic.
As of now, it appears unlikely No Way Home will cross the two-billion mark as many had hoped for, although the performance so far has been a shocking achievement as the pandemic continues to hinder box office results. Perhaps in a pandemic-free corner of the Multiverse, Spider-Man's latest outing may have even come close to Avengers: Endgame's box office records.
Where exactly the box office will end up for Spider-Man: No Way Home remains to be seen, but for now, the wall-crawler's threequel is playing in theaters around the world.
