Far From Home becomes highest grossing Spider-Man movie as it swings past $1 billion globally

Although Spider-Man: Far From Home may have been dethroned by The Lion King as ruler of the latest weekend box office, the Tom Holland-led superhero film has become the highest grossing Spider-Man film of all time, even beating out the iconic movies from OG Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy.

Far From Home, the second standalone film in the current Sony/Marvel Cinematic Universe Spider-Man series, has raked in over $1 billion in global ticket sales as of July 25, Deadline is reporting. And you want to know which Spider-Man film is in second place? You’re not going to believe it, but according to Box Office Mojo, Spider-Man 3. Seriously. This one. The critically-panned third and final Spider-Man outing for director Raimi and actor Tobey Maguire made $891 million. And apparently most of those ticket sales came from overseas (Spider-Man 3 ranks third in domestic box office receipts). 

Directed by Jon Watts, Far From Home takes place after Avengers: Endgame, where Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) sacrificed himself to save the universe from Thanos and his evil forces. Stark’s death looms large over the world, and particularly over Holland’s Peter Parker/Spider-Man. The film takes Spider-Man to Europe, where he confronts classic villain Mysterio (played by Jake Gyllenhaal). 

The through line throughout the film is Parker wondering if he has what it takes to replace Stark as the world the hero needs. Of course, the meta narrative is the film asking if the Spider-Man character can replace Iron Man as the MVP of the MCU. Based on these box office figures? Quite possibly.

This news comes hot of the heels of Endgame breaking the the record previously held by James Cameron's Avatar for being the highest-grossing global film of all time.