• by Wayne Friedman , December 19, 2021

So much for rising concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic. Sony Pictures’ “Spider-Man: No Way Home” rocketed to a sky-high $253 million, according to Comscore, for its three-day North American opening weekend -- the third-highest of all time for any theatrical movie opening.

Although analysts cautioned that big end-of-the-year holiday movies might be somewhat subdued, the latest installment of “Spider-Man” soared to massive levels, posting the highest-ever results for opening-weekend numbers in Sony’s Columbia Pictures' 100-year history.

It was also the biggest movie opening in December.

Sony Pictures spent an estimated $14.9 million in national TV advertising on the movie, according to iSpot.tv, grabbing 1.32 billion impressions from 4,397 airings since August 24.

NFL football, NBA basketball, college football and ESPN’s “SportsCenter” were the top TV shows for the campaign. Over 90% of the TV exposure came from Nielsen national live program plus same-day ratings. Local TV contributed 3% of total impression data.

The film, shown in 4,336 North American locations, pulled in a whopping $121.9 million on Friday, says Comscore -- $73.8 million on Saturday and $57.4 million on Sunday.

Internationally, the movie came in at $334.2 million, giving the film a total of $587 million in just its first five days.

Taking a back seat for the pre-Christmas holiday weekend were Walt Disney’s “Encanto,” with $8.5 million for the weekend (in its fourth week), followed by 20th Century Studios’ “West Side Story,” $3.42 million (second week), Sony’s “Ghostbusters: Afterlife,” $3.4 million (fifth week) and Disney’s Searchlight Picture’s “Nightmare Alley” $3 million (debut week).

For the most recent two-week period, “Alley” spent an estimated $10.8 million ($20.2 million for the entire run of its campaign), according to iSpot.tv.

Universal Pictures’ “Sing 2,” debuting in North America on December 22, hit $7.7 million. “Spider-Man” saw $7.4 million, while Warner Bros. “The Matrix Resurrections” was at $6.9 million and 20th Century Studio’s “The King’s Man, opening December 22, ” was at $6.7 million.