Los Angeles, Dec 19 (IANS): After just three days in cinemas, "Spider-Man: No Way Home" has already become the highest-grossing film of 2020 and 2021. The Tom Holland-starrer surpassed even the most optimistic projections when it generated $253 million from 4,336 theatres in North America.

Reporting the development, 'Variety' said: "It was easily the best domestic opening weekend turnout of any movie in pandemic times. Prior to this weekend, no other Covid-era film had been able to cross even $00 million in a single weekend."

The biggest domestic debut, according to 'Variety', previously belonged to another of Sony's comic book sequels, "Venom: Let There Be Carnage", which generated $90 million in its initial release.

Overseas, the latest Spidey outing -- and the 27th addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe -- has raked in $334.2 million from 60 international markets for a global tally of $587.2 million, making it the third-biggest worldwide opening weekend ever.

It stands behind Disney's "Avengers: Endgame", which collected a historic $357 million in its 2018 debut, and 2017's "Avengers: Infinity War" ($257 million debut) to land the third-best opening weekend in history. Counting "No Way Home", only eight films have ever crossed $200 million in ticket sales in a single weekend.