Spider-Man: Far From Home Pulls in $98 Million in China Opening

Sony Pictures’ Marvel Studios-produced Spider-Man: Far From Home swung to a $98 million opening weekend in China after rolling out June 28, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Spidey won the second-biggest Hollywood debut of the year in the territory, behind only Marvel’s own Avengers: Endgame, and the seventh highest-ever Hollywood start in China. The Homecoming sequel also won fourth best for a superhero movie, trailing Endgame, Avengers: Infinity War and Sony’s own Venom.

Chinese moviegoers gave Far From Home a 9.2 out of 10 score on ticketing platform Maoyan and an 8.1 out of 10 on Douban, giving the Jon Watts-directed blockbuster a second-best score behind only Endgame.

The 2017 Homecoming, which spun out of Spider-Man’s (Tom Holland) introduction in 2016’s Captain America: Civil War, grossed $116m of its $880m worldwide haul in China. Far From Home is expected to reach at least $200m in the Middle Kingdom, helped in part due to Spider-Man’s appearances in the two-part Avengers. Marvel won an unprecedented $614m in China with Endgame.

Part epilogue to that film, which culminated with the death of Peter Parker’s mentor Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), Far From Home examines the Marvel Cinematic Universe post-snap and after half the world’s population returns to life following a five-year period where billions of lives vanished, including Parker and his Aunt May (Marisa Tomei).

The Phase 3 closer will also enjoy a wider berth following the cancellation of China’s The Eight Hundred, a politically-charged war film originally set to open July 5. That film has been pulled from release after becoming a target of Beijing’s censors following a screening at the Shanghai International Film Festival.

Now Spider-Man will compete against Universal-Illumination’s animated Secret Life of Pets 2, releasing to the territory July 5; the first film grossed just $15.7m in its Chinese release in 2016. Spidey will enjoy that limited competition until Disney’s re-imagining of The Lion King opens in China July 12 ahead of its July 19 domestic debut.

Starring Tom Holland, Zendaya, Marisa Tomei, Jacob Batalon, Jon Favreau, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Samuel L. Jackson, Spider-Man: Far From Home opens July 2.