Entertainment
All 11 Spider-Man Movies, Ranked by Box Office
Being the most profitable and one of the most popular superheroes on the planet, it’s no surprise that Spider-Man has some incredibly high-grossing films. Whenever this hero hits the big screen, it’s pretty much guaranteed that the film will make its money back and then some. Indeed, any Spidey adventure is usually one of the highest-grossing films of the year it’s released in. It truly doesn’t matter if a Spidey flick is good or not; it will bring in cash, which isn’t a great thing, but it’s just the way things are. That much is clear thanks to movies like The Amazing Spider-Man 2, which isn’t as bad as you remember but still not good.
Not adjusting for inflation, it’s super fun and informative to compare the Spider-Man movies to each other based on how much they garnered at the box office when they were initially released. This list will rank every Spider-Man movie based on box office receipts, showing why the arachnid hero is such an institution in cinema. With how absurdly popular the newest entry, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, is, that fact continues to be proven—most recently passing into the top ten highest-grossing films of all time.
11
‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’ (2018)
Worldwide Gross: $394,884,133
When Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was first released, it absolutely shook the ground underneath the film industry. The way in which this film was crafted was so masterful, with so much attention to detail, that people couldn’t help but marvel (pun intended) at the filmmaking at play. Not to mention, most importantly, the huge stylistic risks that Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse took.
With a budget of about $90 million, the $394.8 million that Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse gained made it a solid monetary success for Sony Pictures Animation. A win like this not only made this first-ever Spider-Man animated flick important, but also a huge hit and asset for the animation studio, one that went on to win the Oscar for Best Animated Feature. The story of Miles Morales’ journey to becoming the man he was always meant to be was very compelling to audiences of all ages.
10
‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’ (2023)
Worldwide Gross: $690,542,303
After the worldwide success that was Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, a sequel was almost immediately assumed to be in development. Luckily for Spider-Man fans and audiences who loved the first movie alike, they got Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse five years later. Pretty much everyone adored Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, and it quickly took over the world, just as its predecessor did.
Into the Spider-Verse garnered around double what the previous movie did, which makes total sense, getting the benefit of having the first film’s popularity behind it. With a larger story, more characters, and taking further advancements in improving the animation, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse takes steps to improve on what worked so well in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Just like the first film, it was also a monetary success, garnering a whopping $690.5 million.
9
‘The Amazing Spider-Man 2’ (2014)
Worldwide Gross: $708,982,323
While Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse was a massive monetary success, a Spider-Man movie that didn’t perform as well as the studio estimated was The Amazing Spider-Man 2. At first glance, a return of $708.9 million looks great, but the studio surely expected far more, especially considering its high production budget and the fact that it was released near the peak of the superhero genre.
For a Spider-Man movie, Sony Pictures, understandably, expected far more. With how successful the franchises have been in the past, and the fact that he statistically is the most profitable superhero of all time, one would have expected The Amazing Spider-Man 2 to perform far better. The divisive critical response, on top of the minor amount of profit, is definitely what led to the downfall of The Amazing Spider-Man franchise.
8
‘The Amazing Spider-Man’ (2012)
Worldwide Gross: $757,930,663
Despite having a similar box office return to its sequel, The Amazing Spider-Man was better accepted by critics and audiences. While not perfect, people look back on this initial Andrew Garfield flick with some fondness, as there is a lot of good within it. The most praise is sent to Garfield and his co-star Emma Stone. More leniency was also granted, considering it was the first entry in its universe.
When it comes to rebooting Spider-Man, The Amazing Spider-Man was a valiant effort, and it’s safe to say that a decent number of people went out to see what Sony Pictures had to serve up next—and so soon after Spider-Man 3. So while The Amazing Spider-Man wasn’t considered a total flop, because it made more than its money back, it too could have earned more than it did in a perfect world.
7
‘Spider-Man 2’ (2004)
Worldwide Gross: $788,253,491
Spider-Man 2 is not only known as one of the best Spider-Man films, but one of the best superhero films and movie sequels in general. The movie greatly benefited from its predecessor’s popularity, but it also wowed critics and audiences at the time. Its $785 million haul was less than the 2002 original, but it was still a lot for 2004, especially considering the superhero genre was merely beginning to take shape on the big screen.
Safe to say, everyone went to see Spider-Man 2, and boy did they enjoy it. Critics like Roger Ebert loved it, and Spider-Man fans were being fed like they’d never been fed before. About 11 years later, it’s hard to deny the strong reputation Spider-Man 2 still has. It tells one of the most intimate Peter Parker stories in film and features arguably the greatest Spidey action sequences ever put on the big screen, and is incredibly beloved for it.
6
‘Spider-Man’ (2002)
Worldwide Gross: $810,925,307
The film that started it all, Spider-Man was a massive success and a huge contributor to creating the superhero film space that made the genre everything it is today. Without Spider-Man, there very well could not have been a Marvel Cinematic Universe. It helped usher the world into the new early 2000s era of superhero movies, alongside the much less successful X-Men.
To have such a large impact on Hollywood as a whole means that this movie must have made a good chunk of cash. Earning over $800 million at the time of release, Spider-Man is not only a great film but legendary, as well. For a film based on a comic book property to rank as the third-highest-grossing of 2002 was huge, cementing the hero’s reputation as the biggest icon to come out of the comic book world.
5
‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ (2017)
Worldwide Gross: $880,166,924
After his major debut in Captain America: Civil War, Tom Holland was immediately set to star in a solo Spider-Man trilogy, beginning with Spider-Man: Homecoming in 2017. The film had a lot to prove, as it was the first MCU Spider-Man film and Holland’s first attempt at headlining such a big summer tentpole.
Fortunately for everyone involved, Homecoming made a whopping $880 million, scoring a considerable victory for both Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures Entertainment, the latter of which was in sorely need of a victory after the downfall of the Garfield franchise. Homecoming genuinely helped strengthen the relationship between the two studios, allowing Spidey to appear in the MCU’s crossovers and making his overall cinematic presence stronger moving forward.
4
‘Spider-Man 3’ (2007)
Worldwide Gross: $885,837,026
After two massively successful films, it was a given that Spider-Man 3 was going to bring people to theaters, no matter what people thought of the quality. This fact really helped here, as it didn’t critically do very well, but it still brought in the big bucks on account of being the third in the trilogy that shaped the superhero genre. While the argument of whether Spider-Man 3 is overhated can be made, there’s no denying that it made great money regardless.
Even with the biggest budget of the trilogy, Spider-Man 3 ended up being the highest-grossing of them. How could it not, when it was seemingly the hero’s last adventure? The forced inclusion of Venom (Topher Grace) couldn’t stop this movie from climbing up the 2007 box office. It’s actually pretty hilarious that the worst movie of the trilogy was the highest-grossing, too (before inflation is considered).
3
‘Spider-Man: Far From Home’ (2019)
Worldwide Gross: $1,131,927,996
Coming out straight off the heels of Avengers: Endgame, Spider-Man: Far From Home was always expected to dominate the box office, but few expected it to gross over a billion. It did and became the highest-grossing Spider-Man movie up until that point. It makes sense, considering people were still on an Endgame high, but a lot of that also had to do with Spidey’s inherent popularity.
One of the biggest complaints with Spider-Man: Far From Home is the fact that it feels more like an Avengers: Endgame sequel than an actual Spider-Man: Homecoming sequel. However, this complaint ended up being a huge plus for Spider-Man: Far From Home, bringing in a huge audience. It’s hard to argue with money, and in Far From Home‘s case, there was simply a lot of it.
2
‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ (2021)
Worldwide Gross: $1,910,982,770
The massive monetary success of Spider-Man: No Way Home is one of the most impressive feats a Spider-Man film has ever made—maybe even a superhero film in general. Coming out at the tail-end of the COVID-19 pandemic was, presumably, going to be a huge deterrent to the film’s return. Theaters were massively struggling to bring people back, and one of the films that helped do so was none other than Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Despite everything that was stacked up against it, Spider-Man: No Way Home brought in the highest monetary return for a Spider-Man film (at the time) at a whopping $1.9 billion. More impressively, it did so without China, one of the biggest markets in the world. Whether it was a beloved superhero making his theatrical return after a super hard time or the multiversal character inclusions, Spider-Man: No Way Home was one of the first huge successes at the end of the pandemic and is the ultimate David vs. Goliath story.
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