Spider-Man: Brand New Day brought in $927m (£687m) in global ticket sales to become the second-biggest opening weekend ever, surpassing its estimated $225m production budget. The superhero film, starring real-life husband and wife Tom Holland and Zendaya, is second only to Avengers: Endgame, which took in more than $1.2bn in its opening weekend in 2019.
The film also set a second-best North American record, taking $335m at the box office. Its strong performance gives Disney a much-needed boost ahead of the highly anticipated December release of Avengers: Doomsday, after a string of Marvel films under-performed in recent years.
What is Spider-Man: Brand New Day about?
Spider-Man: Brand New Day opened in cinemas last week and picks up a few years after 2021's Spider-Man: No Way Home, with Peter Parker continuing to fight crime in a world that has forgotten he is the masked superhero.
The latest instalment of the hugely popular franchise received largely positive reviews, with some calling it Holland's best Spider-Man performance yet.
How does this fit into Marvel's wider slate?
The film is Marvel's last big-screen outing before Doomsday, the long-awaited culmination of multiple superhero story arcs after Avengers: Endgame. Marvel films released since Endgame have struggled to attract the same broad audiences as they did at their peak.
Big-budget films such as The Marvels and The Thunderbolts recouped their production costs but were among the studio's lowest-grossing releases.
Why does Spider-Man remain so important to Marvel?
Spider-Man remains one of Marvel's most lucrative franchises, with No Way Home making nearly $2bn in ticket sales.
Cinema attendance has slowed since the Covid-19 pandemic, which accelerated the shift to home-streaming options like Netflix. But the big screen has staged something of a comeback this year, with the North American box office takings on track to pass $10bn for the first time since 2019.
That has been helped by blockbuster hits including Toy Story 5, Michael, and The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, each of which has made more than $1bn. July releases Brand New Day and The Odyssey, director Christopher Nolan's take on the epic Greek poem, are also on track to top the $1bn mark.
Indie horror films Obsession and Backrooms have also emerged as surprise successes, bringing in more than $390m each despite their modest budgets.
Key Facts
- Spider-Man: Brand New Day took $927m (£687m) globally in its opening weekend.
- The film's North American opening was $335m.
- Its estimated production budget was $225m.
- It is second only to Avengers: Endgame, which took more than $1.2bn in its opening weekend in 2019.
- The film opened in cinemas last week and stars Tom Holland and Zendaya.
