Spider-Man: Brand New Day made box office history in its first weekend in theatres.
The Sony-released superhero movie became the second-biggest North American opening ever with an astonishing US$355 million (S$454 million) in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday (Aug 2).
It was just a few million shy of Avengers: Endgame, which debuted to US$357 million in 2019.
The film also made US$572 million from over 73,500 screens internationally, with China contributing US$121 million alone, adding up to a US$927 million worldwide debut that is second only to Endgame (US$1.2 billion).
Tom Holland’s run as the comic book webslinger has been a mighty one.
No Way Home, his third standalone Spider-Man movie, made over $1.9 billion worldwide to become the eighth-highest earning movie of all time, not accounting for inflation. It was also the first movie since the beginning of the pandemic to cross the US$1 billion mark.
But the triumph of Brand New Day also comes on the heels of another major movie featuring Holland and Zendaya: Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, which slid to second place in its third weekend in theatres with US$51 million.
Their combined might helped propel the biggest weekend of all time for North American movie theatres, with an estimated US$430 million in total ticket sales, according to Rentrak.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day started strong, with a record US$168 million opening day from 4,487 theatres in the US and Canada, besting Avenger: Endgame’s US$157 million Friday.
The studio predicted it would lead to a US$325 million opening weekend, which would still have beaten the second-place record. It takes the place of Spider-Man: No Way Home which opened to US$260 million in December 2021.
In the realm of best opening weekends in North America, they’re followed by Avengers: Infinity War (US$257 million in 2018) and Star Wars: The Force Awakens (US$247 million in 2015).
Expectations were always high for Brand New Day, which was directed by Destin Daniel Cretton and cost a reported US$225 million to produce, not including marketing expenses.
But there were worries it wouldn’t attract the same level of mass audience enthusiasm as its predecessor which integrated past Peter Parker actors Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield into the mix.
In reality, interest was higher than ever. Brand New Day also received strong reviews from critics and audiences. It currently has a 90 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes; Audiences gave it an “A” CinemaScore and a five-star rating on PostTrak.
Ticket buyers were predominately male (about 61 per cent) and many were on the younger side, with slightly more than half the audience under the age of 25, according to PostTrak exit polls.
The biggest group was between the ages of 18 and 24, which made up 36 per cent of the audience; 27 per cent were between the ages of 25 and 34.
The box office analytics company EntTelligence estimates that about 24.1 million people attended Spider-Man: Brand New Day this weekend.
It’s also the biggest ever opening for Sony Pictures.
Tom Rothman, the Chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, praised “the incomparable Tom Holland” in a statement. Rothman famously pushed back the production of the movie to allow Holland to act in The Odyssey as well.
Cries about the death of the superhero movie have been looming since Endgame with more than a few high-profile flops in the years since, including several from the once-impenetrable Marvel Studios.
Still, when they work, they really work, most notably with No Way Home and Deadpool & Wolverine, which made over US$1.3 billion.
Marvel Studios president and Spider-Man producer Kevin Feige said in a statement, “This debut reflects the enduring power of Marvel’s characters, and the connection they continue to have with fans around the world — and, as audiences saw, it sets up exciting things to come.”
Producer Amy Pascal added that it “reinforces that moviegoers are hungry for stories that are both spectacular and deeply human”.
This year has also seen a resurgence of moviegoing from younger audiences, who have made hits out of movies like Obsession, Backrooms and The Drama, which also starred Zendaya.
They’re also helping blockbusters soar, and in a business that is partly propelled by momentum, Spider-Man had the benefit of coming after The Odyssey, which fell only 43 per cent in its third weekend.
The Odyssey has now earned US$395.5 million domestically, bringing its global total to US$911.4 million.
The film will soon open in South Korea (Aug 5), China (Aug 14) and Japan (Sept 11).
Its studio, Universal, also became the first this year to surpass US$4 billion globally thanks in part to Michael, which it distributed internationally, and The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.
A slew of animated PG-rated holdovers rounded out the top five: Toy Story 5 was in third place with US$6.3 million, followed by Minions & Monsters in fourth and Moana, in fifth. And there were bright spots further down the chart as well.
In sixth place with US$2 million, Hadestown: The Musical surpassed Hamilton to become the highest grossing live theatre capture release ever with a running total of US$18.2 million.
Paul Dergarabedian, the head of marketplace trends for Rentrak, said the Spider-Man effect could help the summer movie season surpass the US$4 billion mark for the first time since the Barbenheimer summer of 2023, and the third-ever billion dollar August.
“This is perhaps the most important summer moviegoing season in the history of the business,” Dergarabedian said. August, he added, “could set up a home stretch of the box office year like no other and one that could push us over that US$10 billion mark”.
Top 10 movies by domestic box office
With final domestic figures being released Monday, this list factors in the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at US and Canadian theatres, according to Rentrak:
1. Spider-Man: Brand New Day, US$355 million.
2. The Odyssey, US$51 million.
3. Toy Story 5, US$6.3 million.
4. Minions & Monsters, US$5.8 million.
5. Moana, US$5.3 million.
6. Hadestown: The Musical, US$2 million.
7. The Invite, US$1.2 million.
8. I Want Your Sex, US$600,000.
9. Young Washington, US$477,727.
10. Obsession, US$470,000.
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