Spider-Man Opening Day Transforms Leicester Square

“How many Spider-Men will there be?” is a question that’s been inescapable for the last year, not just for fans of Spider-Man, but for all the actors to have ever played the role. We thought we might never know the answer, but here in Leicester Square, there seems to be quite a few.

You’d be forgiven for thinking some sort of Comic Con was taking place, as the square’s Christmas market is invaded by Spider-Man fans wearing suits of every colour and size, bringing with them the signature smell of damp home-made costumes that’s present in every convention that takes place in British weather.

But this is not a convention, nor is it an official event. It’s just the opening day of Spider-Man: No Way Home in one of London’s main cultural hubs. The Empire, the ODEON and the Vue all boast large posters of the titular character, and between them, there seems to be a new showing every five minutes. And with this many people, that’s probably necessary.

Even with so many opportunities to watch, securing tickets has been a challenge for a lot of fans, with screenings selling out within minutes of being listed, and the booking websites for multiple cinema companies crashing under the demand. Some tickets for early screenings in America were up on eBay for thousands of dollars. Over here, the film has broken the record set by Avengers: Endgame for pre-sold tickets at both Cineworld and Odeon, with Odeon selling more than 400,000 tickets in advance. These are impressive numbers by any standard, but when so many films have struggled to bring in an audience over the pandemic, it’s pretty amazing.

So, for the people who have secured tickets to this film as early as is possible for members of the public, it’s quite an exciting day. Not everyone is in costume (although in the cold wind, they probably have the right idea), but most people are wearing at least some kind of Spider-Man merchandise. One boy has proudly pulled up his Spidey socks to display them over his school uniform trousers. The vast number of people, young and old, uniting in excitement for the same thing, is a sight to behold.

Walking around, it doesn’t feel like it’s just the release of the latest Marvel movie. There have been three of those already this year. It truly does feel like an event. Channel Pup, a YouTuber with 71,000 subscribers who has made over a hundred videos about Spider-Man, says that’s because it is.

“This film is sort of a coming together of the history of Spider-Man in Hollywood. We’re getting three different generations represented through the different villains showing up. For example, Alfred Molina’s Doc Ock is returning, facing off against the new Tom Holland Spider-Man.”

“With the villains returning, it obviously raises the question of whether we’ll be seeing Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield again. Marvel have kept the answer to this a secret, so there’s still that element of anticipation.”

The concern for spoilers is at the forefront of a lot of people’s minds. In a delicate tightrope act that Spider-Man himself would be proud of, everyone seems to be trying to soak up as much of the atmosphere as possible without overhearing the spoilerific conversations of the people who have just come out of the film. As crowds file in and out of the foyer, the sound of Christmas music and buskers is drowned out by excited conversations about the hero of the hour.

The queue for snacks is absurdly long, and people debate the risks of joining it. Being trapped there for too long would mean missing the opening minutes of a film they want to absorb every second of. Some give up on popcorn and move on into the screen. Others, allured by the admittedly delicious smell (and the knowledge that they’d need to be sustained for the next two and half hours), take their place in the line.

One screen’s occupants start to flood out after witnessing what everyone in the world wanted to see, and the queuers stick their fingers in their ears, refusing to fall to spoilers on the last hurdle. But there’s one sound that can’t be drowned out and it’s one that you rarely hear in cinemas this side of the Atlantic Ocean. It’s the kind of cheering, clapping, and shouting that’s reserved for sports events, but it echoes unmistakably around the Odeon, promising the impatient moviegoers that the experience will be worth the wait.

It’s obvious to anyone that this film has amassed quite the anticipation, the buzzing energy is uniquely indescribable. It would have to be a pretty special film to live up to the hype. For some people, it clearly did. After seeing the film, Dominic Martin, a cosplay YouTuber, and one of the many Spider-Men in attendance, said “it was a movie that gave me everything I could ever want and more. It was just brilliant, I really loved it. I found the cinema experience to be absolutely electric, it was like nothing I’ve ever experienced.”