Los Angeles, Dec 27 (IANS): "Spider-Man: No Way Home" on Sunday became the first pandemic-era movie to leap past $1 billion at the global box office after 2019's "Star Wars: the Rise of Skywalker".

The third film in the Tom Holland-led trilogy achieved this feat despite the lengthening shadow of Omicron and the Covid-19 spike across North America and Europe, and still not having been released in the world largest cinema-going market, China, according to 'Variety'.

It is also this year's top-grossing film, streaking past China's "The Battle at Lake Changjin" ($902 million) and the 25th James Bond film (and Daniel Craig's last outing as 007), "No Time to Die", which has grossed $774 million globally.

Sony's comic-book epic, according to 'Variety', has reached the milestone in a near-record 12 days, tying with 2015's "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" as the third-fastest film to reach the billion-dollar benchmark.

Only 2018's "Avengers: Infinity War" and 2019's "Avengers: Endgame" were quicker, smashing the coveted tally in 11 and five days, respectively.

Reporting these figures, 'Variety' commented: "Those are huge box office receipts at a time when several new films (such as 'The Matrix Resurrections', 'Sing 2' and 'The King's Man') are opening nationwide to notable ticket sales."