Benzinga | Dec 15, 2021 11:06AM EST

'Spider-Man: No Way Home' Ready To Break Box Office Records This Weekend: Reports

"Spider-Man: No Way Home" is poised to become the first film of the pandemic era to gross more than $100 million in domestic ticket sales over a weekend, with some industry estimates forecasting a potential worldwide gross of $1 billion.

What Could Happen: Sony Pictures (NYSE:SONY) is releasing the latest installment in the Spider-Man franchise on Friday across 4,325 screens in the U.S. and Canada, with preview screenings beginning Thursday afternoon.

According to reports from Deadline and Variety, Sony is anticipating a domestic opening weekend of $130 million, although some industry analysts believed the film could generate between $175 million and $200 million in domestic ticket sales during its premiere weekend.

To date, the biggest opening weekend of the pandemic era has been another Sony release, "Venom: Let There Be Carnage," which took in $90 million. A record-breaking performance by "Spider-Man: No Way Home" would stand in marked contrast to last weekend's dismal $10.5 million gross from the heavily-marketed Steven Spielberg version of "West Side Story" from the Walt Disney Co. (NYSE:DIS), which co-financed the new $200 million Spider-Man film with Sony.

Disney's Searchlight Pictures is offering the only other nationwide film premiere this weekend with the noir thriller "Nightmare Alley" starring Bradley Cooper.

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What Happens Abroad: "Spider-Man: No Way Home" is opening today in several countries -- including the U.K., France, Russia, Mexico, Korea and Italy -- and will roll out in Brazil, Germany, India, the Netherlands and Spain through Friday. Early estimates put the international grosses for the film's opening weekend between $290 million and $380 million.

However, China has yet to greenlight the film's release, and the absence of the Chinese market raises the question of whether "Spider-Man: No Way Home" can reach the $1 billion international box office mark without a China playdate.

The last film in the franchise, "Spider-Man: Far From Home" (2019) passed the $1 billion mark with a $198 million boost from Chinese ticket sales.

Photo: Zendaya and Tom Holland in "Spider-Man: No Way Home," courtesy of Sony Pictures