‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ crosses $1 billion mark at worldwide box office

Your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man is a global phenomenon.

“Spider-Man: No Way Home” cruised past the $1 billion mark at the worldwide box office Sunday, making it the highest-grossing movie of the pandemic-rattled year, according to Sony Pictures Entertainment.

“No Way Home” hurtled to that financial milestone after just two weeks in multiplexes. The superhero smash has netted $467.3 million from North American theaters and another $587.1 million from international markets, the studio said.

The movie easily conquered the three-day holiday weekend in North America, too, grossing roughly $81 million from 4,336 locations in the U.S. and Canada.

Peter Parker’s climb to the top of the box-office charts came even as the omicron variant of the coronavirus spread rapidly across the U.S., raising new concerns about indoor activities.

The film has sprinted past “even the most ambitious expectations and amid the headwinds presented by the omicron variant,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore, a firm that tracks box office data.

The last film to reach $1 billion in worldwide ticket sales was “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” (2019), according to Comscore.

“No Way Home” is the third chapter in the cycle of Spider-Man films starring Tom Holland and Zendaya. The latest installment features a supporting turn from Benedict Cumberbatch as the Marvel sorcerer Doctor Strange.

The series is a collaboration between the Disney-owned powerhouse Marvel Studios and Sony, which owns film rights to the Spider-Man character.

“Sing 2,” an animated musical featuring the voices of Matthew McConaughey and Reese Witherspoon, claimed the No. 2 spot on the domestic charts, earning $23.76 million from 3,892 theaters in the U.S. and Canada. (The movie was distributed by Universal Pictures, a unit of NBC News’ parent company, NBCUniversal.)

The holiday weekend’s other major new releases turned in less commanding commercial performances.

“The Matrix Resurrections,” the fourth installment in the mind-bending science-fiction series, collected $22.5 million in North America after debuting Wednesday, including $12 million over the three-day weekend, according to Warner Bros.

“Resurrections” premiered simultaneously on the ad-free version of the streaming service HBO Max. The platform does not publicly disclose viewership data, making it difficult to estimate exactly how many people saw the movie during its opening weekend.

The new “Matrix” has so far drawn a mixed critical response, notching a 66 percent “fresh” score on Rotten Tomatoes and a B- in CinemaScore exit polls as of Sunday morning.

“The King’s Man,” the third entry in Matthew Vaughn’s violent “Kingsman” spy series, nabbed $10 million in North American theaters after debuting Wednesday, including $6.3 million over the three-day weekend.