'Spider-Man: No Way Home' swinging to massive $240mn debut after record-breaking opening day

Los Angeles: Tom Holland-starrer 'Spider-Man: No Way Home' has raked in a whopping $121.5 million on Friday from 4,336 locations, putting itself on the path toward a projected $242 million opening weekend.

That's a performance the likes of which haven't been seen since 2019's 'Avengers: Endgame', which hit a $156.7 million opening day, months before the world had even heard about Covid, reports variety.com.

Not only is 'No Way Home' the first pandemic-era film to surpass the $100 million mark in its first weekend of release, but its success measures out the parameters of a pandemic-era box office in general.

The film scored the second-highest opening day in the history of the domestic box office. The $121.5 million single-day total also measures up as the highest December opening ever and a franchise-best for Sony's 'Spider-Man' series, outperforming the three-day totals of 2017's 'Homecoming' and 'Far From Home' in just one outing.

Due to high anticipation and a spoiler-phobic culture among fans, Marvel films tend to skew front-loaded in their debut weekends, with many viewers making the effort to see a new release as quickly as possible.

However, when opening weekends get this big, the numbers can begin to snowball instead of trending down.

'Endgame' extended its $156.7 million opening day to a $357.1 million weekend, while 2018's 'Avengers: Infinity War' went from a $106 million opening day to a $257.6 million weekend.

'No Way Home' trends similarly to those monster performances, its final weekend total could exceed the projected $242 million.

Directed by Jon Watts, 'No Way Home' picks up after Peter Parker's superhero identity is revealed to the everyone, sending his world as well as those of his girlfriend MJ's (Zendaya), Aunt May's (Marisa Tomei) and best friend Ned's (Jacob Batalon) into spin.

In an attempt to return to normalcy, Parker confides in Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and asks the Sorcerer Supreme to cast a spell making the world forget that he is Spider-Man.

The incantation goes awry, unleashing a multiverse of villains from the universes of other Spider-Men, including Willem Dafoe's Green Goblin, Jamie Foxx's Electro and Alfred Molina's Doctor Otto Octavius.