In under two weeks, Sony Picture's 'Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse' grossed as much as the first installment, 'Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.' Local outlooks on the superhero genre remain tepid despite the buzz.
The animated Spider-Man sequel, featuring Miles Morales as an inter-dimensional web-slinger, has BYU movie fans pleased with the story and hungry for the next chapter. The sequel continues to receive international acclaim as fans flock to theaters and boost the $315 million gross from the 12 opening days.
'It was probably, like one of the best sequels I've seen for a long time,' BYU cybersecurity major Katherine Rackliffe said.
Other students, like BYU pre-animation student Tiffani Cookson, professed their dedication to the Spider-Man movies as a genre.
'I've always loved Spider Man ... I will always go see a Spider Man movie,' Cookson said.
However, the warm reception for Miles Morales does not carry over to the upcoming chapters in Marvel and DC superhero movies.
Some students like Cookson point to the alleged decrease in quality and direction of Marvel movies after the 2019 culmination of the first stages of the Marvel saga in 'Avengers: Endgame,' which remains the highest-grossing superhero movie of all time at nearly $2.8 billion.
Others use Tom Holland's depiction of Spider-Man as a qualitative milestone for superhero movies as a genre.
'As far as Marvel goes, it has been a bit of a downhill after 'No Way Home,'' BYU student Dave Andrada said.
Marvel's recent efforts to reinvigorate the franchise with a new 'big bad,' Kang the Conqueror, flopped in their recent 'Antman and the Wasp: Quantumania.' Critics and the general audience alike agreed the Marvel Comic Universe 'has run out of gas' because of the film.
'Across the Spider-Verse' is poised to overtake 'Quantumania' in box office performance in the upcoming weeks according to some.
'Maybe it's just that the movies that Marvel is making are just really lame. They try to use comedy to cover up the plot,' self-professed superhero enthusiast and BYU senior Spencer Moon said.
Spider-Verse fans now wait anxiously for the next installment set to release early next year and hope for some improvement to the quality of other superhero films.