(LANKAPUVATH | COLOMBO) –The latest instalment of the Spider-Man franchise has become the first pandemic-era movie to make more than $1bn (£750m) at the global box office.
Spider-Man: No Way Home also took the title of highest-grossing film of 2021.
It beat out Chinese-made Korean War epic The Battle of Lake Changjin, which has grossed more than $905m worldwide.
The last movie to gross more than $1bn was 2019’s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, according to media data analytics firm Comscore.
No other Hollywood production has come near to reaching that box office milestone since the pandemic began two years ago.
Over the weekend, global box office takings for the latest Marvel Cinematic Universe film reached $1.05bn.
The co-production between Sony and Disney hit its milestone less than two weeks after its premiere even as the Omicron variant of Covid-19 has spread rapidly around the world, raising fresh concerns about indoor events.
The film has not been released in China, which is currently the world’s biggest cinema market.
Spider-Man: No Way Home sees Tom Holland return as the third iteration of Peter Parker alongside Zendaya’s MJ and Benedict Cumberbatch as the sorcerer Doctor Strange.
