Across The Spider-Verse Cost To Make & Was It A Box Office Success?

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse was expected to be successful, but its cost to produce and box office earnings combined to make it a massive hit. The first film in the franchise, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was released in 2018 and earned enough at the worldwide box office to lead to the sequel’s development. Produced on a budget of around $90 million, Into the Spider-Verse accumulated a worldwide box office haul of over $384 million, as per Box Office Mojo.

With Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse including many Spider-Man variants and delivering a memorable story, the film generated significant pull at the box office for fans of the character. However, understanding movie costs, earnings, and actual profits can be a bit confusing, begging the question of how well Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse actually did in the eyes of Sony Pictures Animation and how it stacks up to other similar projects from recent years.

Related: Across The Spider-Verse Ending Explained: Miles Morales Shocker & What It Means

Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse’s Budget Was $100 Million

As per a report by The Hollywood Reporter, the budget for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is estimated to be around $100 million before marketing costs. This makes it around $10 million more expensive to produce than its predecessor was, which was expected given the tendency of sequels to be bigger than their preceding films. The budget was put to good use, as Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse was much more ambitious in terms of characters, story, and animation than it’s already-impressive predacessor.

This budget places Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse above some of the most expensive traditionally animated films of all time. That being said, the budget for the film still pales in comparison to the likes of Dreamworks’, Disney’s, and Pixar’s recent efforts in animated cinema. Regardless, it is still clear that Sony has faith in the film, providing a $100 million budget for an original story, despite the heavy links to a character as popular as Spider-Man.

How Much Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse Made At The Box Office

Though expectations were high for Across the Spider-Verse, the film did better both short and long-term than most predictions expected it would. According to box office data site Box Office Mojo, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse ended its theatrical run with an impressive $380,072,201 domestically in the United States and $303,688,122 internationally, totaling $683,760,323 altogether. Equally impressive was Across the Spider-Verse‘s opening weekend numbers when looked at in isolation. The movie made an impressive $120.5 million domestically, contributing to a worldwide $280.6 million opening weekend total.

This compares favorably to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which did well enough in its own right but pales in comparison to other Spider-Man big-screen projects. Its $35 million opening weekend total and $384,256,930 worldwide total earnings are a fraction of its sequel’s, but the data isn’t shocking given it was a new take on the character that hadn’t traditionally been represented theatrically in animation. The movie also provided value long-term, as its quality clearly excited fans to get out and see Beyond the Spider-Verse right away.

Also notable are the various records that Across the Spider-Verse broke during its theatrical run. The movie’s opening weekend was the all-time best for a Sony Pictures Animation project, both domestically and globally. Additionally, though it’s now been surpassed by Barbie, the Across the Spider-Verse had the best 2023 opening day.

Was Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse A Box Office Success?

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse was undeniably a hit for Sony Pictures Animation, both critically and commercially. Not only did Across the Spider-Verse settle at an impressive 95% on Rotten Tomatoes, but the project’s $683.8 million means a huge amount of profit. Of course, looking at raw box office numbers doesn’t tell the whole picture for profits. While the movie’s production budget was around $100 million, movies, on average, tend to require double their budget to turn a profit due to costs involved with marketing and splitting earnings with theaters. Even so, assuming Across the Spider-Verse really cost closer to $200 million, the movie returned almost a quarter billion in profits.

Comparing Across the Spider-Verse‘s box officer performance to other theatrical Spider-Man movies gets interesting as well. While the movie made less than box-office mega-hits like Spider-Man: No Way Home and its predecessors, those movies also cost significantly more to make and market. No Way Home easily crossed the billion-dollar mark with a total worldwide pull of $1,921,847,111. However, it had the benefit of being the third movie in a well-received trilogy and part of the wildly successful MCU. It also didn’t have the hurdle of any perceived bias against animation. No Way Home‘s production budget of about $200 million means the movie turned profitable at about the $400 million mark.

More appropriate is comparing Across the Spider-Verse to other animated 2022 and 2023 projects. The movie beat Pixar’s Elemental ($423,698,938 worldwide) and Lightyear ($226,425,420), among others. However, it couldn’t quite top the impressive The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which also exceeded expectations on the way to its $1,352,756,895 run. With more earnings on the way via digital and physical home-media purchases, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse will continue to be a hit for Sony Pictures Animation and bodes well for the trilogy closer, Beyond the Spider-Verse, when it releases.