Eternals may have just opened to the public this past weekend, but we’re already less than two months away from the next Marvel Cinematic Universe movie, Spider-Man: No Way Home. A new poster for the threequel dropped on Sunday night, and there’s already rumors aplenty about when the next trailer will premiere. While we wait for that next batch of footage, No Way Home just got some good news on the box office front, as it’s been confirmed that the movie will play in China.
Normally this wouldn’t be that big a deal, as China plays plenty of American blockbusters, some of which end up performing commercially better there than in the United States. However, Spider-Man: No Way Home will be Marvel’s first Phase 4 movie to be released in China, as evidenced by a Chinese version of the previously-mentioned poster being released (via Variety). That being said, while No Way Home will premiere stateside in mid-December, a specific date for its arrival in China hasn’t been announced yet.
So why haven’t any of Marvel’s other Phase 4 movies been released in China? In Black Widow’s case, it’s unclear, despite the fact that the country’s censorship authorities approved it to play in theaters back in March. On the other hand, with Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Eternals, it appears these movies were not approved to be released due to dissatisfaction over comments made about China in the past by Shang-Chi star Simu Liu and Eternals director Chloe Zhao. As a result, Spider-Man: No Way Home will mark Chinese moviegoers’ first Marvel movie experience since Spider-Man: Far From Home, the final Phase 3 movie, came out in summer 2019.
With Spider-Man: Homecoming and Spider-Man: Far From Home, having collected $116.2 million and $198.9 million, respectively, in China, it’s reasonable to assume that Spider-Man: No Way Home will enjoy similar commercial success in that territory. But let’s not forget that a pandemic is still going on, meaning that even if No Way Home is a cinematic hit in China, that doesn’t mean it will pull in as much money as its predecessors did during times when a virus wasn’t hindering theaters. Looking at the global picture, that also means No Way Home faces an uphill battle hitting the $1 billion mark like Far From Home did. So far the highest-grossing Hollywood movie of 2021 is F9, which has grossed $721 million.
Nevertheless, Spider-Man: No Way Home is shaping up to be the biggest live-action Spider-Man movie yet thanks to its incorporation of the multiverse. With his secret identity having been revealed to the public at the end of Spider-Man: Far From Home, No Way Home sees Tom Holland’s Peter Parker asking Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange to restore his anonymity using magic. Unfortunately, something goes wrong with the spell, resulting in villains from other realities like Alfred Molina’s Doctor Octopus, Jamie Foxx’s Electro and Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin wreaking havoc on the MCU.
Spider-Man: No Way Home swings into domestic theaters on December 17. If you’re curious about what else the MCU has primed for the silver screen, look through our upcoming Marvel movies guide.
