Box Office: 'Spider-Man: Far From Home' Superhero Fatigues Past $111 Million Overseas

Box Office: 'Spider-Man: Far From Home' Swings Past $100 Million Overseas

Sony's Spider-Man: Far From Home got off to a dynamite start in China this weekend, earning $97.5 million in its first three days of release. That's the third-biggest MCU debut ever in China, behind only Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. Coupled with early releases in Japan and Hong Kong, the $160 million-budgeted Marvel superhero sequel has earned $111 million overseas in advance of its global launch this week. So, yeah, with $19 million in IMAX alone, Spidey is swinging as high as hoped.

The Jon Watts-directed flick, which stars Tom Holland, Jake Gyllenhaal and Zendaya, has earned solid word-of-mouth in China thus far. The absence of The Eight Hundred (originally slated for July 5) and Better Days (originally slated for July 12) means clear skies ahead of the latest Peter Parker passion play. Those presumed/preordained Chinese blockbusters both got pulled from the slate for "technical reasons," which is everyone's favorite euphemism for Chinese governmental censorship.

The $80 million 1937-set war flick was (allegedly) pulled due to issues with opposing political parties being presented too sympathetically, while the coming-of-age drama ran into trouble over depictions of bullying and sexual assault. That's not Hollywood's problem, but it is to their benefit both in the short term (yay for The Secret Life of Pets 2 and The Lion King) and possibly the long term. Hollywood can't play second fiddle to Chinese biggies if the Chinese biggies keep getting cancelled prior to release.

But, to be fair, we can't give too much credit to national politics concerning two movies which weren't slated to open until next week. Yes, Sony opened Spider-Man: Far From Home a week early to get out of the way of The Eight Hundred, but the $110 million debut is about Spider-Man: Far From Home. Spider-Man, with or without the MCU, has always been popular in China. Even Venom pulled a $111 million opening weekend and eventual $272 million cume late last year.

Far From Home's $97.5 million Chinese debut is well above the $69 million start for Homecoming and could lead to a finish between and $164 million (if it legs like Homecoming) and $239 million (if, more likely, it legs like Venom). That's a lot of wiggle room, so we'll see how it holds in Asia as it expands over the rest of the world over the long holiday weekend. At a glance, it could easily be over the $500 million mark by this time next week.