Spider-Man: Brand New Day is currently dominating the box office. Despite coming out just two weeks after The Odyssey, which has also done ridiculous numbers at the box office, the latest Marvel entry has enthralled audiences to an impossible degree.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day Crosses $1 Billion in Less Than a Week
According to Box Office Mojo, Spider-Man: Brand New Day has grossed $1.05 billion at the global box office. In case you forgot, the movie came out on July 31. It’s been less than a week since the previews on Thursday night. Yet, it’s already the second-highest-grossing movie behind Toy Story 5, and it’s probably going to blow by that movie any moment.
It is already 32nd on the all-time box office (not adjusted for inflation) list. According to Screen Rant, it has passed such movies as Captain America: Civil War, Aquaman, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Jurassic Park, and The Dark Knight Rises. That’s impressive company.
The projections are wild, too. Deadline projects that it could have the third-best second weekend in film history, falling behind Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Avengers: Endgame. It’s possible that the estimates are low, too, because Brand New Day is finally getting some IMAX screens along with The Odyssey, so there will be incentive for people to see the movie a second time in a different format.
Deadline also provided some impossible stats and records:
- Second-fastest ever to hit $1 billion, second only to Avengers: Endgame
- Fastest film to cross $400 million at the domestic box office, doing so in four days
- Biggest Monday in the USA ever with $47 million
- Biggest domestic opening weekend of all time, pulling in $360 million to pass Avengers: Endgame‘s $357.1 million
It is difficult to put into words how impressive this is, especially just two weeks after The Odyssey started its run that has nearly made $1 billion as well. For what it’s worth, Brand New Day also tied the record for the fastest to one million watched on Letterboxd.
Why is Brand New Day Making So Much Money?
Spider-Man is a ridiculously profitable character. The MCU now has 12 billion-dollar movies, and Tom Holland’s Spidey has been in six of them. Even at his worst, the webhead puts audiences in seats. Spider-Man 3 is, in my opinion, the worst Spidey movie, and it grossed over $885 million. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 might be everyone else’s pick for the worst, and it made over $700 million.
This is still an insane degree. Avengers: Endgame was the culmination of more than a decade of movies building to one thing, and it was the second part of one of the most incredible cliffhangers in film history. It is no wonder people went out in droves to see it. Brand New Day doesn’t have that same pull.
It is sort of following up on a cliffhanger with the end of No Way Home wiping everyone’s memories of Peter Parker, but that’s not remotely the same as the end of Infinity War. How is this happening? Word of mouth is helping, but word of mouth doesn’t really kick in during the first weekend, which saw over $900 million at the box office.
People obviously yearn for Spider-Man, which is always true. They also yearn for good scripts and high-quality productions. That’s not always true in Spidey movies, and it’s obviously not always true for superhero movies. Superhero fatigue might be real, but bad movie fatigue is absolutely real. Brand New Day avoids both pitfalls.
The point is, this is unprecedented. The movie is a sequel and fits within a larger franchise, but it does a pretty great job of standing mostly on its own. A good Spidey suit, a solid story, and competent direction are apparently all anyone needs to make an absolute boatload of money.
