‘Spider-Man’ a holiday treat for a struggling box office

It’s a very merry Christmas for movie theaters thanks to “Spider-Man: No Way Home” and its $250 million opening weekend.

The theatrical landscape, however, needs much more than a friendly neighborhood superhero heading into 2022.

If 2021 can be defined in a single word, it’d probably be “uncertainty.” That applies to many things, of course, but it absolutely describes the ups-and-downs of the box office.

In early summer, it looked like moviegoing was on a path to normalcy, with strong box office takes for “F9: The Fast Saga” and “A Quiet Place Part 2.”

Then the pandemic decided to keep being a jerk.

While you can’t blame COVID for all the industry’s problems, the virus blunted box office returns for every kind of movie except maybe the ones featuring superheroes. Despite monstrous performances like “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” and “Venom: Let There Be Carnage,” the overall box office hasn’t come anywhere close to pre-pandemic levels, and even those successful Marvel movies probably would’ve grossed a few hundred million more dollars before COVID.

Then came “Spider-Man: No Way Home” and its record-breaking opening weekend. It’s the first movie since the start of the pandemic that made as much as it probably would have in the before-times. Heck, it might’ve made more, with many moviegoers choosing “Spider-Man” as their grand return to moviegoing.

Unfortunately, box office numbers beyond “Spider-Man,” continue to lag. The high-profile “West Side Story” remake from Steven Spielberg stumbled out of the gate and looks to be a financial disaster. Guillermo Del Toro’s “Nightmare Alley” opened against “Spider-Man” and bombed as well. Both movies are critically acclaimed and generally well-liked by the people who’ve actually seen them, but word-of-mouth alone won’t rescue them.

“Spider-Man,” is obviously a special case — everybody loves Peter Parker, and “No Way Home” is specifically formulated to attract superfans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe as well as legacy fans who love the Sam Raimi-directed “Spider-Man” trilogy (and, to a lesser extent, the two “Amazing Spider-Man” entries before the wall-crawler’s introduction to the MCU). Its visuals and action elements also scream BIG SCREEN in ways few other movies can.

“Spider-Man: No Way Home” didn’t need critical adoration to be successful, though with so much pre-established goodwill, strong critical and audience word-of-mouth only sweetens the pot. It’s a really good movie, and even cynical critics like myself can’t find much to complain about in it.

So while “No Way Home” will juice a billion dollars into the crippled box office, I worry that the theatrical moviegoing experience remains squarely in the danger zone (with that “Top Gun” sequel still months away from release to boot). Older audiences haven’t returned to theaters at the same pace as younger moviegoers, leaving mid-to-high budget, “adult-skewing” titles like “West Side Story” to face a world in which profit isn’t attainable through a traditional theatrical window.

Audiences already have it easy with so many viewing options at home. Streaming services continue their onslaught of exclusive content, and, for older audiences anyway, those movies and television shows are more appealing than the current offerings at the movie theater.

We also know we don’t need to wait very long for those theatrical films to make it into our homes. Even box office successes like “Venom” and the James Bond adventure, “No Time to Die,” arrived on premium video on demand (PVOD) within 30-45 days of their theatrical debuts. People feel like they can wait, especially for things that aren’t quite as zeitgeist-defining as “Spider-Man.”

Another knock to the box office: Omicron (boo!). Maybe the new variant will be the last gasp of the pandemic, and we’ll all be back to the theater in droves before spring. Or maybe another variant comes along. Or maybe, after two years in the COVID weeds, we’ve all just grown so accustomed to watching more stuff at home that it won’t matter. We’ll go see the blockbusters for the “big screen experience,” and save everything else for the sofa.

I don’t have the answers, but I do know, as one of the most fervent movie-watchers out there, I’ve grown much more comfortable seeing movies at home. I like the convenience and access, even if that means paying a little extra for a PVOD rental vs. making the trek to the theater.

As a critic, I know I should be trumpeting for the survival of the theatrical experience. I do think movies are best on the big screen, and almost all my favorites are ones I watched in a movie theater.

But it’s also important to acknowledge how all our viewing habits have shifted since the explosion of the streaming age, which began well before the emergence of COVID. Moviegoing probably won’t ever be “normal” again.

Hopefully, things like “Spider-Man: No Way Home” will continue to help keep our local theaters open. That way we’ll still have the option for a true big screen experience, whenever we decide to partake.

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Tyler Wilson is a member of the International Press Academy and has been writing about movies for Inland Northwest publications since 2000, including a regular column in The Press since 2006. He can be reached at twilson@cdapress.com.