The summer when a Greek poem and a man in a mask came to Hollywood’s rescue

Hollywood had been enjoying a fairly decent summer, but it is now turning into an exuberant one. Happy and sweaty —the heat wave has shown no sign of letting up for weeks— the film district and its surroundings are breathing easier after an achievement that calms their restless waters, at least for now: the almost magical box-office pairing of The Odyssey with the latest installment of Spider-Man. Hand in hand, these two movies delivered more than $400 million to U.S. box offices in a single weekend, led by the over $350 million from Spider-Man: Brand New Day, the biggest opening in U.S. box-office history. The winning combo, in just three weeks, has grossed about $1.85 billion worldwide (more than €1.6 billion). And a few more dollars are still expected to come in.

The union of the two phenomena was expected to succeed, but few had predicted results this good, especially after the fatigue expressed by filmgoers over superhero movies or, more broadly, franchises. That is why on Monday, there was not a single industry outlet —from The Wrap to Variety— or newsletter that did not lead with the figures, the records, the analysis, the frenzy. Especially at a tough moment for the industry, when many productions are leaving Los Angeles because of high costs, even higher after the Covid pandemic and the writers’ and actors’ strikes. And particularly as the city watches with grave concern the possible merger, now temporarily paused, of Paramount and Warner, which could put hundreds, if not thousands, of employees out of work.

Although the fact of the matter is that neither Odysseus’s adventures nor Peter Parker’s were filmed in Hollywood studios —in fact, not even in New York or the United States more generally (Nolan’s was shot in Morocco, Greece, Italy and Iceland; Cretton’s in London, Surrey, Kent and Glasgow). Still, it is a boost for a city that lives off cinemas, premieres, marketing campaigns, red carpets and their extravagant parties, and from the tourists who come to see, or to be disappointed by, the celebrity homes.

That helps explain why the fourth film starring Tom Holland as the beloved Peter Parker —which, as if the record ticket sales were not enough, has also received good reviews— leaves a happy feeling in Los Angeles, among all film industry companies (one’s success is everyone’s success) and, of course, at Sony, its distributor, which was quick to share the figures for Destin Daniel Cretton’s Spider-Man and its nearly $1 billion global haul: $932 million, or €810 million. Reception has been especially strong in the United States and Canada: there the film grossed nearly $360 million, surpassing the $300 million barrier that only Avengers: Endgame had reached in 2019.

“It’s the biggest opening weekend in box-office history, with $360 million,” Sony told EL PAÍS, breaking down that the film played in almost 4,500 theaters and that Friday was the strongest day, with nearly $170 million in receipts, followed by Saturday with $101 million and Sunday with $89 million. The company’s CEO, Tom Rothman, opened his statement with “Wow!” “360 million thanks to all the filmmakers, actors, producers and my colleagues at Sony, who created such a fantastic film and an exceptional marketing and distribution campaign,” he said. “Records are meant to be broken, but we will be very proud of this one while it lasts.” Rothman also told The Hollywood Reporter, with a touch more relish, that “all the geniuses who said that theatrical movies were dead, they’re not necessarily right. Actually, the theatrical marketplace is booming right now, and I’m excited about it. So I’m very optimistic.”

Spider-Man’s success has been massive even compared with Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, which had already been a jolt for the city and has been the center of conversation for weeks. Although standard screenings now sometimes have available seats (almost impossible in the film’s first 10 days), tickets for the 70mm IMAX presentations remain very hard to get. Nolan’s true Trojan horse presides over the entrance of Universal CityWalk’s famed multiplex north of the city and greets the lucky few who can see it in its IMAX 70mm auditorium, Nolan’s preferred venue for watching films. For this week’s five daily screenings there are tickets left, but only in the dreadful front row, where no one can stare at a colossal 18-by-25-meter screen for three hours. The company knows this and has decided to add showings through the end of September.

There are also almost no seats left at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, the neighborhood’s oldest and most beloved venue and the best place in town to see Nolan’s film as the director intended. It has several auditoriums but, in a city full of cinephiles, the only IMAX 70mm screen with nearly a thousand seats remains constantly full. That is why there are five daily screenings, from 6.00 am until almost 10.00 pm, and even 11.00 pm on Saturdays. In Los Angeles’s filmgoing culture, where it is accepted that a movie may start about 20 minutes after the scheduled time because of numerous ads, and where patrons eat giant tubs of popcorn, nachos with cheese or onion rings in the theater, the earliest viewers arrive after 5.00 am laden with coffee mugs while the last leave well past 2.00 am. In the evening shift, ticket seller Sofía explains that many try their luck at the box office in case something is left over; so far, nothing for the whole week. For Spider-Man, she says, “there’s a little more availability” because it has more screens. But above all, many people come to print their digital tickets and take the physical stub as a souvenir.

Julian Franco and his friend Ernesto drop by a couple of hours before the last screening to see when the auditorium opens. Their eagerness is understandable: they’ve come from San Diego, almost three hours away. “Well, two and a half hours,” they say, laughing and looking embarrassed. They bought their tickets 10 days ago and drove to Los Angeles just for this. In the United States, only 25 theaters are showing the film in all its glory, eight of them in California, but none in their city; this one is the closest and the 9.55 pm screening is the only one available. “Everything was sold out and this was the best we could find,” they say excitedly, after paying about $30 each. They don’t mind leaving at two in the morning: they will drive through the night, trading their favorite anecdotes and still tasting the popcorn.

The Odyssey and Spider-Man have lifted the summer box office in just three weeks, but they are not alone. It is, after all, kids’ season at the movies, which is why two highly anticipated animated films are also helping. The enduring nostalgia around the fifth Toy Story installment, released at the end of June, still outpaces both at the U.S. box office with $462 million in the U.S. and over $1 billion worldwide. Other strong performers this summer include the Minions, whose return alongside a handful of monsters has pushed that franchise past $400 million in five weeks.

The awards season, beginning in September with the Emmys and in January with the Golden Globes —the Oscars will be in March— will put them all in their places, from a critical perspective. They may not take home piles of statuettes, but they have already taken piles of dollars. For an industry that is as hungry for recognition as it is for revenue, both are of equal value.

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