Spider-Man: No Way Home

• 1. Introduction

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  Spider-Man: No Way Home drew 355.5 million global views for its first trailer in the first 24 hours. No trailer had drawn more views in such a span. Avengers: Endgame held the old record at 289 million, and the Far From Home trailer had reached 135 million. The same trailer set a social media record too, with 4.5 million mentions in a single day. Fans were not only waiting for a sequel. They were hunting through rumors about which characters from older Spider-Man films might return. Sony, Marvel and the cast spent months trying to keep those answers hidden. Yet the road to the screen was far less certain than the trailer numbers suggest. How did a negotiation between two giant studios put the film's future in doubt? Why did actors deny roles that rumor said they had taken? And what happened when a film built on secrecy arrived in the middle of a pandemic?

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• 2. A Deal Falls Apart

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  In August 2019, Sony Pictures was hoping that Tom Holland and director Jon Watts would both return for a third and a fourth Spider-Man film. Holland was contracted for one more. Watts had completed his two-film deal and would need to sign again. Marvel Studios and its parent, The Walt Disney Studios, had by then spent months discussing a larger arrangement. Under the existing deal, Marvel and its president Kevin Feige produced the Spider-Man films for Sony and received 5% of their revenue.

  Sony wanted more films on those same terms. Disney was concerned about Feige's workload, since he already guided the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and asked for a 25-50% stake in any future film he produced for Sony. The two sides could not agree. Sony announced that it would move ahead without Feige or Marvel. Its statement allowed that this might change, and it thanked Feige for his work on the first two films.

  In September 2019, Sony Pictures Entertainment chairman Tony Vinciquerra confirmed that Spider-Man would be folded into Sony's own shared universe. Fans were furious. Vinciquerra replied that Sony respected the Marvel people but had talented people of its own. He added that Feige "didn't do all the work" and that Sony was "pretty capable of doing what we have to do here."

  The backlash continued at D23, Disney's biennial convention. Holland then spoke personally to Disney CEO Bob Iger and to Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group chairman Tom Rothman. The companies returned to negotiations and announced a new agreement at the end of September. Marvel Studios and Feige would produce another film for Sony alongside Amy Pascal, scheduled for the 16th of July 2021. Disney would reportedly co-finance 25% of the film in exchange for 25% of its profits, and it kept the character's merchandising rights.

  In early October, Iger credited Holland and the fan response. He said both studios had at first forgotten that "there are other people who actually matter." Rothman called the result a "win-win-win" and believed the deal would have happened even without the reports and online debate. At the time of the agreement, Watts was still in final negotiations to direct, and by the middle of October Zendaya was confirmed to return as Michelle "MJ" Jones-Watson.

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• 3. The Spell Goes Wrong

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  Quentin Beck, the villain known as Mysterio, frames Peter Parker for his murder and exposes him as Spider-Man. The Department of Damage Control arrests Peter, his girlfriend MJ, his best friend Ned Leeds and his aunt May Parker. Lawyer Matt Murdock gets the charges dropped, but the publicity stays ugly. When MIT rejects the applications of Peter, MJ and Ned, Peter visits Dr. Stephen Strange at the New York Sanctum. He asks for a spell to make the world forget that he is Spider-Man.

  Strange begins the spell, but Peter keeps asking for changes so that his loved ones can keep their memories. The spell is corrupted, and Strange contains it. Then Otto Octavius attacks Peter and rips nanotechnology from his Iron Spider suit. The technology bonds with Octavius's mechanical tentacles and lets Peter control them. When Norman Osborn arrives and attacks as well, Strange teleports Peter back to the Sanctum and locks Octavius in a cell beside Curt Connors.

  Strange explains that the broken spell has pulled people from other universes who know Spider-Man's identity. Peter, MJ and Ned set out to capture them and find Max Dillon and Flint Marko at a military research facility. Osborn regains control from his Green Goblin personality and destroys the Goblin mask. May helps him until Peter takes him away. The villains also learn that each of them was pulled from their own universe just before dying.

  Strange plans to send them home. Peter argues that they should first be helped, so that their fates might change. When Strange refuses, Peter steals the spell and traps him in the Mirror Dimension. At Happy Hogan's apartment, Peter uses Stark Industries technology to cure Octavius. Then the Goblin retakes control of Osborn, turns the other villains against Peter and fatally wounds May. She tells Peter that "with great power, there must also come great responsibility."

  Ned discovers that Strange's sling ring can open portals. He and MJ use it to look for Peter and find two other Peters, called Peter-Two and Peter-Three, who were also pulled from the villains' universes. They find this universe's Peter, who is mourning May and ready to send the villains home to die. The visitors share stories of losing Uncle Ben and Gwen Stacy. Together the three Peters make cures and lure the villains to the Statue of Liberty.

  At the Statue of Liberty, Ned frees Strange by accident. The Goblin unleashes the contained spell, which pulls in countless more people who know Peter's identity. The enraged Peter-One tries to kill the Goblin, but Peter-Two stops him and Peter-Three helps him inject the cure. Peter-One decides the only way to protect the multiverse is to be erased from everyone's memory. Strange reluctantly casts the spell, and everyone returns home, including Eddie Brock, who unknowingly leaves behind a piece of the Venom symbiote.

  Two weeks later, Peter visits MJ to reintroduce himself but decides against it. At May's grave he speaks with Hogan, who has no idea who he is. That conversation inspires him to make a new Spider-Man suit and resume his vigilante work.

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• 4. Writing the Multiverse

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  Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers were already writing the screenplay when Sony made its announcement, and by December 2019 they were working on it in earnest. One early idea was to make Kraven the Hunter the main villain. Watts liked it and had pitched it to Holland. It was dropped because Sony wanted Kraven to appear in a solo film first.

  The story then drifted toward the 1946 film It's a Wonderful Life, with Peter making a wish about his now public identity. That brought in Dr. Stephen Strange and, with him, the multiverse. The writers began to consider revisiting characters from earlier Spider-Man films. At first they thought of it as a tease for fans. Then they decided to build those characters into the plot. Sommers said, "Once it was collectively decided that we were going to take this swing, we had to commit and we had to do what was right for the story."

  Early drafts brought back every major character from the earlier films. The pair decided they had taken on too much and narrowed the list. They also wanted to avoid "a bunch of fan service." Their aim was to use the returning characters to tell Peter's story rather than offer "curtain calls for everybody."

  Norman Osborn was not the main villain in the first version of the script, although he still appeared as an antagonist. After other characters fell away, McKenna and Sommers decided that the Green Goblin "had to be" the main villain. They rewrote the script to give him a second chance at what he attempted in the 2002 film Spider-Man, only darker and tied to Holland's Peter. America Chavez was considered at one point for a sorcerer's apprentice role, and part of that role went to Ned instead. She later appeared in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, released in 2022.

  In April 2020, the pandemic led Sony to move the release to the 5th of November 2021. It moved again to the 17th of December. The film was first meant to follow Multiverse of Madness, but the delays put it ahead. That forced plot changes, including Strange no longer having firsthand knowledge of the multiverse. McKenna said this made it "even more frightening, to start fooling around with these things, because it's the fear of the unknown."

  Many ideas never reached the screen. Among them were Doctor Octopus in a comics-accurate green and yellow costume and Ned riding the Goblin Glider as a nod to his Hobgoblin persona in the comics.

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• 5. Filming Under Pandemic Rules

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  Second unit crews filmed in New York City from the 14th to the 16th of October 2020 under the working title Serenity Now. They gathered establishing shots and visual effects plates in the Queens neighborhoods of Astoria, Sunnyside and Long Island City. On the 23rd of October, filming moved to Greenwich Village in Manhattan. By the 25th, production had shifted to Atlanta, where Holland, Jacob Batalon and Zendaya began principal photography. Holland had wrapped the Sony film Uncharted two days earlier.

  Mauro Fiore served as cinematographer, replacing Seamus McGarvey. McGarvey had to leave after contracting COVID-19, and he also had a scheduling conflict with the film Cyrano. Shooting took place at Trilith Studios, where strict safety measures were in place on the soundstages. The production reportedly used technology that scanned actors into a visual effects system, which could apply makeup and costumes in post-production. A light system told the cast when they could remove their masks and when masks were required.

  Benedict Cumberbatch began shooting his scenes in Atlanta by late November. Filming ran for seven to eight weeks under the working titles Serenity Now and The November Project, then paused for Christmas 2020. Holland said the film needed "all or none" of its actors to be made, and several key actors had not signed on when cameras began.

  In January 2021, filming at Frederick Douglass High School ran from the 22nd to the 24th. Midtown High School followed from the 19th to the 21st of March. The Atlanta Public Schools system had stopped allowing its buildings to be used for filming because of the pandemic. It made an exception because both schools had been used for Homecoming. Holland said the film had more "visceral" fights than the previous two, with more hand-to-hand combat. Filming wrapped on the 26th of March 2021.

  Not every actor could be on set. Thomas Haden Church's role was meant to be larger, with a subplot about Sandman's relationship with his daughter Penny. The pandemic and a rewritten script cut it down. He provided scratch dialogue and some motion capture in a parking lot in San Antonio, Texas. On set, Watts stood in for Church by providing motion-capture reference for an uncredited body double. Hannibal Buress later released a music video in August 2021 that revealed he had filmed scenes in Atlanta.

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• 6. Secrets and Hype

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  In December 2020, Collider reported that Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield would appear in the film. It also named Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane Watson and Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy. A cameo for Maguire, Garfield and Holland had once been considered for Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse in 2018. Sony cut it then because it felt the idea was too risky and confusing.

  Commentators argued over the reports. Richard Newby of The Hollywood Reporter thought a crossover could lessen the impact of the animated Into the Spider-Verse. His colleague Graeme McMillan felt it would let Marvel clean up loose ends. Soon afterward, Holland denied that Maguire and Garfield would appear. Meanwhile, many returning actors were brought to set in cloaks so that no one could see who they were. Around Christmas 2020, McKenna and Sommers rewrote the introductions of Maguire and Garfield and much of the third act so the actors could begin filming.

  Feige confirmed in December 2020 that the film would connect to Multiverse of Madness. A month later, he said the title had not been announced and that Marvel internally called the film Homecoming 3. At the end of February 2021, the title was revealed. The reveal followed a video in which Holland, Batalon and Zendaya posed with fake titles: Spider-Man: Phone Home, Spider-Man: Home-Wrecker and Spider-Man: Home Slice. Batalon and Zendaya joked that Holland could not be trusted with the real title, since he had "accidentally" revealed the second film's title.

  The denials continued. In April 2021, Alfred Molina confirmed his role, explaining that he had been told to stay quiet but his appearance was already widely reported. In May, Garfield denied that he had been asked to appear but later said "never say never," and Stone denied her involvement. In September, Garfield said, "No matter what I say... it's either going to be really disappointing for people or it's going to be really exciting." He later called the denials "rather stressful but also weirdly enjoyable." Dunst said in November that she would not appear but would "never say no" to returning.

  On the 22nd of August 2021, an apparent leak of the first trailer spread on social media. The Hollywood Reporter judged it "legitimate" after Sony worked to remove copies. The official teaser came the next day at Sony's CinemaCon 2021 panel. The second trailer premiered on the 16th of November at a fan screening at the Regal Sherman Oaks theater in Los Angeles. Some viewers suspected that Maguire and Garfield had been edited out of it, pointing to a shot of the Lizard struck by an invisible force.

  In early October 2021, many commentators expected Tom Hardy to return as Eddie Brock after the mid-credits scene of Venom: Let There Be Carnage. Feige said the two film teams had coordinated closely on that scene, which Watts directed during production of No Way Home. Watts said he was in "no hurry to confirm or deny" the rumored appearances. Feige said the rumors were fun for fans but audiences should not expect them all to come true.

  Hyundai released a commercial titled "Only Way Home," directed by Watts, to promote the film and the Ioniq 5. In December 2021, the first minute of the film premiered on Late Night with Seth Meyers, and a Daily Bugle newsstand appeared in New York City. Fortnite and PUBG Mobile offered Spider-Man themed props and costumes. The film's total promotional marketing value reached $202 million.

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• 7. Old Faces, New Tricks

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  Tom Holland described his Peter as defeated and insecure, and he was excited to explore the darker side of the character. Returning to the voice and mindset of a "naïve, charming teenager" felt strange after more mature roles such as Cherry. Holland also felt that Strange was not a mentor to Peter in the way Tony Stark had been in Homecoming. He saw the two as colleagues whose relationship breaks down over the film. Zendaya's character gained a full name on screen, Michelle Jones-Watson, bringing her closer to Mary Jane Watson in the comics.

  Willem Dafoe was digitally de-aged to play Norman Osborn. His Green Goblin also received costume upgrades to look more like the comics version. Dafoe felt the character had advanced since the 2002 film, with a few more tricks up his sleeves. Alfred Molina was surprised that the film continued Otto Octavius's story after his death in Spider-Man 2, since Molina himself had aged. Digital de-aging made him look the same as in 2004. His four tentacles were created entirely with CGI, unlike the mix of CGI and puppetry used before.

  Jamie Foxx's Electro was redesigned. The blue look from The Amazing Spider-Man 2 gave way to a yellow one closer to his mainstream comic book appearance. Rhys Ifans and Thomas Haden Church returned to voice the Lizard and Sandman. Their human forms at the end of the film came from archival footage of The Amazing Spider-Man and Spider-Man 3. Batalon lost 102 lb for his role.

  The writers realized that May Parker would fill the role Uncle Ben holds in other tellings of the story. Marisa Tomei's May therefore became Peter's moral guide, and that is why she speaks the famous line about power and responsibility.

  Maguire's Peter, nicknamed Peter-Two, uses organic webbing instead of web shooters. Maguire wanted the film to reveal only minimal details about what had happened to him since Spider-Man 3. Garfield's Peter, called Peter-Three, is haunted by his failure to save Gwen Stacy. Garfield embraced being the middle brother of the group and was grateful to tie up loose ends for his version. He said working with Holland and Maguire led to deeper conversations about their experiences with the character.

  The climax echoes that old failure. Peter saves MJ in a similar way to how he fails to save Stacy in The Amazing Spider-Man 2. McKenna and Sommers credited Watts with the idea, which he suggested while they watched a pre-visualization reel of the climactic battle.

  Michael Giacchino, who scored Homecoming and Far From Home, returned for the music. His score references themes from earlier Spider-Man films by Hans Zimmer, James Horner, Christopher Young and Danny Elfman, plus his own themes from Doctor Strange. He did not want that to feel like fan service, so he and Watts used the themes only in "very targeted" ways. The track "Arachnoverture" came out as a single on the 9th of December 2021.

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• 8. Records and Reviews

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  Spider-Man: No Way Home premiered at the Fox Village Theater in Westwood, Los Angeles, on the 13th of December 2021. It opened in the United Kingdom and Ireland on the 15th. On the 17th, it opened in 4,325 theaters in the United States. Ticket sales had begun at midnight on the 29th of November, and ticket websites such as Fandango and AMC Theatres crashed under the demand. Fandango's first-day advance sales were the best since Endgame. AMC CEO Adam Aron linked its strong day partly to Spider-Man themed non-fungible tokens.

  The opening day in the United States and Canada brought in $121.85 million, including $50 million from Thursday night previews. The opening weekend reached $260 million, passing Infinity War to become the second-biggest domestic opening ever. The film topped the box office for three more weekends and was beaten in its fifth by Scream. It reclaimed first place in its sixth. In March 2022, it passed $800 million in the United States and Canada, only the third film to do so.

  Abroad, the opening day brought $43.6 million from 15 markets, and the five-day opening weekend reached $340.8 million from 60 markets. In South Korea it grossed $5.28 million on its first day. In the United Kingdom its opening beat the record set by No Time to Die. It became the highest-grossing film ever in Mexico. Its biggest markets were the United Kingdom, Mexico, Australia, France and South Korea.

  The worldwide total reached $1.921 billion, made up of $814.9 million in the United States and Canada and $1.107 billion elsewhere. That made it the highest-grossing film of 2021, the sixth-highest-grossing film of all time at the time of its release, the highest-grossing Spider-Man film and the highest-grossing film Sony has released. Deadline Hollywood estimated its net profit at $610 million, based on a lower projected gross that the film then surpassed. Comscore analyst Paul Dergarabedian called it "arguably the most important movie to the movie theater industry ever," because it showed the viability of theaters during the pandemic.

  Critics were broadly positive. The Rotten Tomatoes consensus reads, "A bigger, bolder Spider-Man sequel, No Way Home expands the franchise's scope and stakes without losing sight of its humor and heart." Metacritic gave the film a weighted average of 71 out of 100 from 60 critics. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave it a rare "A+," the first for a live-action Spider-Man film. PostTrak found that 96% of audience members gave it a positive score.

  Reviewers praised the villains and the three Peters. Peter Debruge of Variety praised the performances of Garfield and Maguire. Bilge Ebiri of Vulture was harsher and called the film "aggressively mediocre." Even so, he named Garfield a "genuine delight" and the best performance in the film. Hannah Strong of Little White Lies faulted the film for putting fan service ahead of storytelling.

  The film earned a nomination for Best Visual Effects at the 94th Academy Awards. The three Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards it was nominated for were all wins. It was disqualified from the 75th British Academy Film Awards because it was not on BAFTA's streaming service, reportedly due to Sony's piracy concerns.

  An extended cut called The More Fun Stuff Version reached theaters on the 31st of August 2022, starting in Indonesia. It added about 13 minutes, including an introduction by Holland, Maguire and Garfield. The digital release of the original film in the United States sold over 2.1 million units in its first week, worth $42 million, a record. Sony has planned another trilogy with Holland, beginning with Spider-Man: Brand New Day, scheduled for July 2026.

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