• by Wayne Friedman , December 26, 2021

Sony Pictures’ “Spider-Man: No Way Home” took advantage of its big mid-December theatrical opening to get a running start on the bigger Christmas holiday weekend period -- adding another hefty $81.5 million in box-office revenues, according to Comscore.

In its debut weekend, the movie posted $253 million -- the third-largest North American theatrical opening ever.

In all, “Spider-Man” has totaled $467.3 million in North American theaters to date, with a total worldwide gross of $1.13 billion. It has become the first film in the pandemic era to surpass $1 billion worldwide.

The big holiday weekend drew a crowd. Six of the top 10-grossing movies debuted on the weekend.

While the weekend soared in overall North American theatrical revenues -- up 91.6% to $145.3 million, according to Comscore -- it is still 28% below the pre-pandemic 2019 Christmas weekend, according to IMDb’s Box Office Mojo.

In second place this year after “Spider-Man” for the holiday period was Universal Pictures’ animated “Sing 2,” with a healthy $23.8 million.

“Spider-Man” and “Sing 2” topped the list in terms of national TV advertising impressions over the last two weeks (Dec.12-25), according to iSpot.tv. “Sing 2” earned 842.6 million (2,415 equivalized 30-second spots, $11.1 million ad spend); “Spider-Man” hit 796.5 million (1,511 equivalized 30-second spots, $7.8 million TV spend).

In third place was Warner Bros. “The Matrix Resurrection” at $12 million -- a bit of a disappointment, according to analysts, who point to the movie having a simultaneous opening on premium streamer HBO Max, which may have hurt its performance.

“Matrix” recorded 498 million impressions over the most recent two weeks for its national TV campaign.

Next was 20th Century Studios “The King’s Man” -- at $6.4 million (574.3 million impressions); Lionsgate’s “American Underdog,” with $6.2 million (475 million); 20th Century Studios’ “West Side Story,” at $2.8 million (325.9 million) ; and Sony Pictures’ “A Journal for Jordan”, with $2.2 million (526.2 million).