The global box office has received a much-needed jolt from Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios’ latest superhero blockbuster, *Spider-Man: Brand New Day*, which notched one of the largest opening weekends in North American cinema history, industry analysts confirmed Sunday.
Led by British star Tom Holland in his return to the title role of Peter Parker/Spider-Man, the film pulled in an eye-watering $355 million in ticket sales across the United States and Canada during its first three days in theaters. When compared to unadjusted box office records, that debut lands in second place all-time, falling just $2 million short of the 2019 record holder *Avengers: Endgame*, according to data from box office tracking site Box Office Mojo.
The ninth live-action theatrical outing for the iconic web-slinger – who has previously been brought to life on screen by actors Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield – boasts a star-studded supporting cast that includes Zendaya (Holland’s real-life spouse), Mark Ruffalo, Florence Pugh, and breakout star Sadie Sink. The latest entry in the franchise follows a broken Parker, who has stepped back from public life after erasing all public knowledge of his superhero identity, navigating a radical personal shift while fending off deadly new antagonists.
Industry analysts have called the opening nothing short of extraordinary, noting the film arrived at a time when the summer box office had gone two months without a major tentpole action release. “This is a colossal opening,” said David A. Gross, head of entertainment research firm Franchise Entertainment Research. “The summer has been without a big action title for nine weeks – an eternity at the box office. The market is ripe-ripe-ripe for this film.”
Beyond North American borders, the film’s performance has been equally impressive. It earned an additional $570 million from international markets in its opening weekend, pushing its total global haul to a staggering $928 million by the end of the weekend, data from industry tracker Exhibitor Relations shows. Gross added that strong performance in key international markets, including a rare positive opening result in China for a major Hollywood release, has positioned international ticket sales to make up more than 60% of the film’s final global total.
The Spider-Man juggernaut has also lifted the entire North American box office, with other top releases seeing stable holdovers alongside the blockbuster’s massive debut. Christopher Nolan’s latest original epic *The Odyssey* from Universal Pictures held onto the second spot in its subsequent weekend, pulling in $51 million to push its domestic total to nearly $400 million. Adapted from Homer’s ancient Greek epic poem, the film stars Matt Damon as Odysseus, the hero struggling to return home after the Trojan War, with Anne Hathaway as his wife Penelope and Tom Holland in a supporting role as his son Telemachus.
“The combination of *Spider-Man* – a legacy superhero sequel – and *The Odyssey* – a big original production – is taking the box office to new highs by a comfortable margin,” Gross noted.
Rounding out the top five highest-grossing films for the weekend were Disney-Pixar’s *Toy Story 5* in third place with $6.3 million, Universal’s animated outing *Minions & Monsters* in fourth with $5.8 million, and Disney’s live-action remake of its animated hit *Moana* in fifth with $5.3 million. The remaining spots in the weekend top 10 went to *Hadestown: The Musical* ($2 million), *The Invite* ($1.2 million), *I Want Your Sex* ($600,000), *Evil Dead Burn* ($525,000), and *Young Washington* ($478,000).