Far From Home Is Officially The Highest-Earning Spider-Man Movie Ever

UPDATE: When we're right, we're right. Spider-Man: Far From Home has officially crossed the $1 billion dollar mark worldwide as of today, according to Collider.

Move over, Tobey. Step aside, Andrew.

Spider-Man: Far From Home, the second solo outing and fifth film overall to star Tom Holland as the iconic web-slinger, has easily surpassed Sam Raimi's 2007 flick Spider-Man 3 to become the highest-grossing Spider-Man movie in history. Currently, its worldwide total stands at $975,021,785 dollars — and its theatrical run isn't done.

As we have opined numerous times, Far From Home seems destined to become the first starring vehicle for ol' Web-Head to breach the coveted $1 billion dollar mark in global box office receipts. Sure, it can be argued that the movie received a bit of a boost by virtue of hitting theaters just over two months after Avengers: Endgame, which was, you know, pretty successful. That flick even enjoyed a re-release featuring a sneak peek at Far From Home not even a week before the Spidey sequel debuted — a re-release which pushed Endgame over the edge and helped it to become the all-time worldwide box office champion, unseating James Cameron's Avatar.

Far From Home isn't even the first movie to benefit mightily from the "Avengers effect": less than a year after the first Avengers movie became the first MCU effort to rake in over a billion dollars, Iron Man 3 (which dropped almost exactly a year later) became the second. However, it can also be argued that Far From Home could never have achieved greater box office glory than any other Spidey movie if it hadn't been good, and it is... very good.

It also helps that Holland embodies his character in that special way we've become accustomed to from Marvel's biggest stars, and that he has endeared himself to Marvel fans and casual audiences alike to a greater degree with each successive appearance. His debut as the character in 2016's Captain America: Civil War — an Avengers movie in all but name, and a billion-dollar smash hit in its own right — was widely praised, and left fans hungry for more. So hungry, in fact, that they made 2017's Spider-Man: Homecoming the top-grossing Spidey flick behind only Spider-Man 3, and the character's appearances in the one-two punch of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame only cemented his status as a fan favorite in the MCU.

It's not exactly a shock, then, that Far From Home would leave Spider-Man 3 choking on its dust. The most maligned film of Sam Raimi's original Tobey Maguire-starring trilogy still managed to far outgross the director's previous Spidey outings, and when it comes to Marc Webb's rebooted Amazing Spider-Man series (which starred Andrew Garfield in the title role), this is all we'll say: Sony's decision to partner with Marvel to bring the web-slinger into the MCU was a very, very wise one.

With Far From Home now holding the top spot, Spider-Man 3 falls to #2 with a worldwide take of $890.9 million dollars. Homecoming finished right behind that film with an $880.2 million dollar gross, while the original Spider-Man is still hanging around the middle of the pack with $821.7 million dollars. 2004's Spider-Man 2 (which is, to this day, still considered to be among the best superhero films of all time) is next with $783.8 million dollars, while the grosses of 2012's The Amazing Spider-Man ($757.9 million dollars) and 2014's The Amazing Spider-Man 2 ($709 million dollars) illustrate the diminishing returns that prompted Sony to seek a Mighty Marvel bailout. 

Coming in dead last is 2018's Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, but that's not a huge shocker. While rapturously received, the animated film was never expected to go toe-to-toe at the box office with its live-action counterparts. Plus, it won a freaking Oscar, so it can take consolation in the fact that no other Spider-Man movie has ever managed that.

Assuming Far From Home keeps on rolling, it'll also help Marvel Studios to achieve a feat it never has before: fielding three billion-dollar-plus hits in a single year. In addition to Endgame, Captain Marvel also cruised handily past the mark; the only other time this has almost happened before was just last year, when Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War both posted ten-figure totals. (Ant-Man and the Wasp, while a hit, didn't come close.)

Breaking a billion with Far From Home will also amount to more than just a big fat feather in Marvel's cap. As we recently reported, the terms of the studio's initial deal with Sony provide that if the flick fails to hit the mark, Sony would be within its rights to effectively cancel the deal and go back to making Spidey movies on its own — but given their track record of mishandling the property and Marvel's astounding success with rehabilitating the character's box office fortunes, this seems unlikely in the extreme even if Far From Home should fall ever-so-slightly short.

Of course, Marvel recently revealed its full slate of Phase 4 films at San Diego Comic-Con 2019, and there was nary a Spider-Man feature to be found among them. But Phase 4 will be a short one (running only through 2022), and it actually seems like a savvy move to give audiences time to miss Peter Parker and his pals before serving up Spider-Man: Home for the Holidays (we're just taking a wild stab at a title here).

The radio silence on Spidey's cinematic future doesn't necessarily mean we won't get some news relatively soon. We'll be keeping an eye out for any announcements, rumors, or leaks, and we'll keep you informed.