Weekend Box Office Report: July 7-9, 2017

Spider-Man: Homecoming climbs into first!

As the movie's title anticipated, the webbed wonder was welcomed into the Marvel Cinematic Universe by audiences to put SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING on top at the box office with an estimated opening of $117 million!

After his intro in last year's CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR, Spidey's MCU solo adventure from COP CAR director Jon Watts scored a higher debut than the previous Andrew Garfield version of the wall-crawler (THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN opened with $62 million in 2012 and THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 started with $91 million in 2014).

Even in his third big-screen iteration, the web-head showed his sticking power as he improved on the $114.8 million opening of Sam Raimi's 2002 SPIDER-MAN and the $88 million first weekend of SPIDER-MAN 2 in 2004. Raimi's SPIDER-MAN 3 remains on top with a $151 million opening (although it ended with the lowest domestic total of that trilogy).

As far as the Marvel Cinematic Universe itself, the showdown between new Spidey Tom Holland and Michael Keaton's villainous Vulture had a stronger domestic start than all the other establishing movies for the rest of the current Marvel characters (Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Ant-Man, Incredible Hulk, Guardians of the Galaxy and Doctor Strange) — only sequels and AVENGERS movies had better openings.

Boosted by the power of Robert Downey Jr. and his armored alter-ego, SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING snared an additional $140 million from international crowds for a worldwide weekend of $257 million.

Distributed by Sony (while Marvel still holds the lucrative merchandising rights), the reboot cost a reported $175 million. Critics were enthusiastic about attending class and battling super-criminals with Peter Parker and his arachnid-powered superhero, giving the movie a 93% average on Rotten Tomatoes (swing over to the JoBlo reviews HERE and HERE).

In second place was the animated sequel DESPICABLE ME 3 with $33.9 million. The Steve Carell-voiced ex-villain and his Minions dropped 53% from their first-place opening last weekend, with a ten-day domestic total of $149.1 million. The $80 million family feature from Illumination Entertainment already has a worldwide total of $447 million.

Edgar Wright's BABY DRIVER still has plenty of gas in third place with $12.7 million, slowing by just 38% from last weekend. The R-rated musical heist thriller has a $56.8 million domestic total after twelve days, making it the highest-grossing effort for the filmmaker.

WONDER WOMAN continues to exhibit magnificent box office strength in fourth place with $10.1 million.

After a month-and-a-half in theaters, director Patty Jenkins' Amazon origin story has a domestic total of $368.7 million. At this rate, the DC Comics superhero is on track to become the summer's biggest domestic box office earner (GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2 is currently ahead at $385 million, but is only still on a few hundred screens while WW has 3000).

With a current worldwide total of $745.8 million, Diana of Themyscira has also nudged past the $745.6 million global finish of last summer's SUICIDE SQUAD.

TRANSFORMERS: THE LAST KNIGHT was in fifth with $6.3 million. With a domestic total of $118.7 million on its third weekend, Michael Bay's fifth robot rumble isn't even halfway to the $245 million domestic finish of 2014's TRANSFORMERS: AGE OF EXTINCTION (a similar story worldwide — $494 million for THE LAST KNIGHT thus far, versus $1.1 billion total for AGE OF EXTINCTION).

Pixar's CARS 3 was in sixth place with $5.6 million, bringing it to $133.7 million domestic after a month in theaters. The Will Ferrell/Amy Poehler comedy THE HOUSE followed in seventh with $4.8 million, losing 45% of business from last week's opening for a ten-day total of $18.6 million (on a $40 million reported cost).

In eighth place, THE BIG SICK expanded its release and jumped onto the chart with $3.6 million. Kumail Nanjiani's acclaimed coma comedy has a domestic total of $6.9 million before it goes wide next weekend (it's now on just 326 screens).

Toward the bottom was the shark thriller 47 METERS DOWN with $2.7 million and a $38.4 million domestic total after a month, making it a minor hit for a release initially planned for video. Sofia Coppola's period drama THE BEGUILED closed out the list with $2 million at 941 locations.

Outside the chart, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES sailed into the sunset along with the Tupac biopic ALL EYEZ ON ME and Tom Cruise's THE MUMMY, which only got to $77.9 million domestic. In limited release, the Casey Affleck/Rooney Mara death drama A GHOST STORY started out with a decent $27k per-screen average.

Next weekend puts simians against humans in WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES, and a magic box yields horrific results in WISH UPON.

Which villain would you most like to see take on Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe? VOTE HERE!