Spider-Man: Brand New Day grossed a jaw-dropping $72 million from Thursday previews, demolishing the record set in 2019 by Avengers: Endgame's $60 million. The Infinity Saga finale went on to earn $357.1 million domestically and a staggering $1.2 billion globally during its first weekend in theaters.
While the latest Spider-Man movie likely won't have a bigger global debut, it should beat Avengers: Endgame's opening weekend in North America. If so, that would see the wall-crawler set the record for the biggest debut ever, a result that's amazing, spectacular, and frankly astonishing.
For context, the biggest previews for 2026 before now were The Odyssey ($17.6 million) and Toy Story 5 ($17.5 million). The latter has gone on to gross over $1 billion, while the former—which has taken Spider-Man: Brand New Day's IMAX screens—crossed $700 million earlier this week.
In 2021, Spider-Man: No Way Home made $50 million from Thursday previews and made $260.1 million domestically and $587.2 million worldwide. COVID was an issue at the time, but the movie still finished its run with $1.9 billion in total.
Original projections pointed to a $195 million U.S. debut and a $465 million global bow. Now, not only is Spider-Man: Brand New Day likely to top Avengers: Endgame's $357.1 million start, but it should web up the second-biggest worldwide debut ever with $900 million.
At a time when superhero fatigue is an issue, and moviegoers have become particularly selective about what they'll pay to see, why has this movie succeeded where Supergirl, for example, failed?
It's not as if regular moviegoers will be particularly invested in who Sadie Sink is playing. Still, Sony Pictures has successfully made it feel like an event (which hasn't been the case for much of the Multiverse Saga), and Spider-Man's popularity is clearly unparalleled.
"Spider-Man: Brand New Day is everything fans could want," we wrote in our review of the movie. "Emotional, hilarious, and heartfelt, it’s an action-packed love letter to the comics and one of Spidey’s best big-screen adventures. Spider-Man has never been more amazing."
Spider-Man: Brand New Day has also received praise from comic book writers Frank Miller (Daredevil) and J. Michael Straczynski (Amazing Spider-Man):
In Spider-Man: Brand New Day, it's a Brand New Day for Peter Parker. Fighting crime full-time as Spider-Man in a world that doesn’t remember him—and the pressure of seeing his old friends move on without him—sparks a change in Peter he may not have the power to control.
But that transformation might also be the only thing that can stop a shocking new threat to the city and those he loves - a powerful villain no one can even see. The world may have forgotten Peter Parker, but he hasn’t forgotten them.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day's cast includes Tom Holland, Zendaya, Sadie, Jacob Batalon, Jon Bernthal, Tramell Tillman, Michael Mando, and Mark Ruffalo.
The movie is directed by Destin Daniel Cretton and written by Chris McKenna & Erik Sommers. The film is produced by Kevin Feige, Amy Pascal, Avi Arad and Rachel O'Connor. Executive producers include Louis D'Esposito and David Cain.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day is now playing in theaters.