Spider-Man Brand New Day Box Office Sets US Record

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is now the highest-grossing movie of all time at the domestic box office. On September 16, the Sony and Marvel Studios film moved past Star Wars: The Force Awakens, ending a record run that had lasted more than a decade.

According to TheWrap, Brand New Day crossed the $936 million unadjusted total of The Force Awakens on its seventh Tuesday in theaters. People reported that the film had reached $936.773 million in North America just 47 days after its July 31 release, edging out the Star Wars film's $936.66 million domestic total.

The Spider-Man Brand New Day Box Office run has been setting records since the first day of release. It opened with $360 million in North America, the biggest debut in history, beating the $357 million opening of Avengers: Endgame from 2019, according to USA Today. It also became only the third film of the 2020s and the eighth ever to pass $2 billion worldwide.

The numbers behind the record

The all-time domestic chart now has a new look at the top. Avengers: Endgame sits in third place with $858.373 million, followed by Spider-Man: No Way Home with $814.866 million and Avatar with $785.221 million. The Force Awakens held the top spot for more than ten years after its December 2015 release, and when it set the record, it was ahead of everything else by about $150 million.

The size of the run surprised even Sony. On opening weekend, Sony Pictures film chairman Tom Rothman told TheWrap: "Just think of everything our industry has been through with the pandemic, and then even more so with the strikes. The challenges theaters have faced have been so immense. I truly didn't think we would ever see any film open to $350 million domestic again."

Worldwide, Brand New Day has grossed about $2.45 billion, making it the third-highest-grossing film of all time globally. It passed Avatar: The Way of Water to take that spot, sitting behind only Avatar and Avengers: Endgame on the worldwide chart.

From No Way Home to Brand New Day

The record is the payoff of a story that has been building for years. Brand New Day is Tom Holland's fourth solo film as Peter Parker, and it picks up five years after Spider-Man: No Way Home, which grossed $1.9 billion in 2021 even without a release in China and during a COVID-19 outbreak. In the new film, Peter tries to start over with MJ and Ned, who no longer remember him, while facing a new threat from a mind-controlling mutant who turns out to be a future X-Men cast member, Jean Grey.

That long wait is part of why the numbers look the way they do. Fans who had waited five years to see the consequences of Peter erasing himself from everyone's memories showed up in force, and strong word of mouth carried the film through August, when it became one of the only hot titles in theaters. According to TheWrap, the film helped push August business to an all-time monthly high of $1.2 billion.

Lucasfilm's very classy response

Records this big sometimes come with studio drama, but not this time. Lucasfilm shared a congratulatory card on Instagram for the team behind the Spider-Man film. In a post reported by MovieWeb, the caption read: "Impressive. Most Impressive. From a galaxy far, far away, everyone at Lucasfilm sends massive congratulations to Destin, Tom, everyone at Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios and the entire team behind Spider-Man: Brand New Day on setting a new domestic box office record and taking the crown from Star Wars: The Force Awakens."

The gracious tone fits a franchise that knows what it is like to hold the record. The Force Awakens introduced Rey, Finn, Kylo Ren and Poe in 2015, and it held the crown for more than a decade before handing it over this week.

What this says about movie theaters

The record is also a signal that the theater business has recovered its footing. Reuters reported that the U.S. and Canadian box office generated $4.6 billion in ticket sales from the first weekend in May through Aug. 30, up 26 percent from the previous summer, citing measurement firm Rentrak. The report pointed to a mix of blockbusters, sequels and original films drawing moviegoers back, with women and younger audiences returning in force.

That recovery did not happen by accident. After the pandemic and the 2023 writers' and actors' strikes, most major studios committed to showing films exclusively in theaters for a 45-day window before they become available to buy or rent at home. USA Today reported that the steady supply of well-reviewed films with cross-generational appeal has helped the domestic box office climb back toward $10 billion for the year, a level not seen since 2019.

And the next challenger may already be lined up. Marvel Studios' Avengers: Doomsday has pulled in $50 million in presales more than three months before its December release, and it has become Disney's most-watched trailer ever across social media platforms, according to TheWrap. If it matches the hype, Brand New Day's time at the top of the domestic chart could be short. For now, though, the record belongs to Peter Parker.