Spider-Man: Brand New Day heads for US$875 million global opening, defying superhero slump

HOLLYWOOD’S superhero boom ended years ago. Spidey apparently did not get the memo.

Sony Pictures said on Saturday (Aug 1) that Spider-Man: Brand New Day, its 11th big-budget Spider-Man movie since 2002, was on pace to collect at least US$325 million at the North American box office from Thursday through Sunday. That would be one of the biggest domestic openings ever, ranking only behind Disney’s Avengers: Endgame in Hollywood’s history books. (Endgame generated US$357 million in 2019, or about US$467 million after adjusting for inflation.)

Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton from a screenplay by Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers, Brand New Day was expected by analysts to sell about US$550 million in tickets overseas, for a global opening total of roughly US$875 million. (Ticket sales are split roughly 50-50 between studios and theatres.) Sony spent an estimated US$225 million to make the movie, not including marketing costs.

To meet demand, some multiplexes in the US were devoting nearly half of their weekend showtimes to Brand New Day, double what is typical, even for an event film. At some locations, screenings began as often as every 15 minutes.

Brand New Day drew especially strong turnout from Generation Z, defined as people born from 1997 to 2012, making them about 14 to 29 today. The reasons included casting – the movie features young stars Tom Holland, Zendaya and Sadie Sink – and specific storytelling choices, according to Greg Durkin, the founder of Enact Insight, an entertainment research firm.

“Some of the themes in Brand New Day that stoke Gen Z include mental health challenges, loneliness and being unseen by the ones you love,” Durkin said in an e-mail.

In 2023, one superhero movie after another disappointed at the box office, including The Marvels, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, The Flash, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, Blue Beetle and Shazam! Fury of the Gods.

Brand New Day arrived to widespread acclaim, something that has become rare for superhero sequels. Critics lavished praise on the film, so much so that chatter about potential Oscar attention started in Hollywood. The Rotten Tomatoes audience score stood at 98 per cent positive on Saturday.

There was also pent-up demand at the box office for an iconic superhero, according to David A Gross, a film consultant who publishes a newsletter on box office numbers.

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“The market is ripe-ripe-ripe,” Gross said. NYTIMES