It was clear that Spider-Man: Brand New Day would be a box office hit before it arrived in theaters on July 31. However, no one anticipated it would become the third-highest-grossing movie of all time.
With $2.4 billion at the worldwide box office, the Spider-Man: No Way Home sequel sits behind only Avatar and Avengers: Endgame. In North America, the blockbuster has become only the second title ever to surpass $900 million and, by the end of its run, it will beat Star Wars: The Force Awakens to be crowned the biggest U.S. movie in history.
Now, Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group Chairman and CEO Tom Rothman has weighed in on Spider-Man: Brand New Day's unprecedented level of success.
"For a result like that to happen, everything has to work perfectly," he told Variety at the Lumière Summit in Saint-Paul-de-Vence today. Praising the "incredibly talented" team that's worked on the franchise, Rothman also singled out Marvel Studios and Tom Holland, who "has been our partner in this for over a decade now."
He added that Spider-Man: Brand New Day is "not so much a superhero film, but a 'super-person' film. The reason that movie has resonated all around the world is that it’s about a lonely guy. It’s like, yeah, it’s about friendship. It’s very human. It’s very emotional. It’s got plenty of whiz-bang, but that’s not what the secret is. The secret is it’s a relatable story that almost everybody has related to."
While some fans have been critical about the decision to pit Peter Parker against the X-Men franchise's Jean Grey. However, even with classic villains like The Scorpion and Tombstone given minor roles, the story has resonated with audiences in a big way. What that means for Spider-Man 5 promises to be very interesting.
During the event, Rothman also acknowledged one of Sony's biggest misfires this year. The studio let Curry Barker's Obsession slip from its fingers after being outbid by Universal's Focus Features by just "a couple million dollars."
Focus reportedly paid $14 million for the movie, which has grossed nearly $510 million worldwide. Joking that he was "outraged," Rothman said, "I would like to have that moment back. I congratulate the worthy opposition."
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 that 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.
In our review, we concluded by saying, "Spider-Man: Brand New Day is everything fans could want. 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 is now playing in theaters.