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It’s not necessarily a brand new day at the box office, but the record-shattering opening of Sony’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day does confirm one thing: There’s a top tier of superheroes — Spider-Man, Batman, Deadpool and presumably the Avengers — and then there’s the rest.
“It’s a very popular question: Is the superhero movie dead?” says Sean McNulty. “This is kind of answered to me now.” During the superhero boom a decade ago, movies like 2019’s Captain Marvel and 2018’s Aquaman could gross $1 billion at the box office, even if they featured comic-book characters who arguably reside in the genre’s second or even third tier. The current era, on the other hand, is all about the genre’s longstanding marquee stars: Superman, Batman and, yes, Spider-Man — a sort of Pitt, Clooney and Cruise of comics. “It’s back to the A-list with Spidey at the top,” notes Sean.
With an absurd and astonishing $360 million debut weekend in North America, Spider-Man: Brand New Day beat 2019’s Avengers: Endgame for the highest-grossing opening weekend ever. (Avengers: Endgame still holds the global mark, $1.2 billion to $932 million for Spidey.)
“People love Spider-Man. They absolutely cannot get enough of Spider-Man,” says Christopher Rosen, noting the success of the character over the last three decades — including in animation with Sony’s Spider-Verse franchise. Still, Spider-Man has never been as big as he is right now in the capable hands of Tom Holland. Two of the four highest-grossing opening weekends of all time in North America are for Holland’s standalone Spider-Man movies, and the actor also played Spider-Man in the other two on that list: Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. “Obviously, there are certain superheroes who are driving people to the theater,” adds Chris. Among the superheroes who haven’t recently: Supergirl, the Thunderbolts and Sam Wilson’s Captain America, all of whom led movies that grossed $200 million or less in North America.
The other big story at the box office was also somewhat related to Spider-Man. Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey — with Holland and his Spider-Man co-star and now-confirmed wife Zendaya in supporting roles — finished second, as it cruises toward $1 billion worldwide, powered by its IMAX revenue. Forty-three percent of its third-weekend gross ($22 million of its $51 million total) came from IMAX showings. Overall, The Odyssey has already made more money from IMAX ($221 million globally) than Nolan’s Oppenheimer did during its entire run.
“People know they have to see his movies in IMAX,” Chris says, noting other name-brand directors who have that format-specific hold include Denis Villeneuve and Ryan Coogler. “Those filmmakers have become so tied to that format that you want to see their stuff in the biggest possible venue.”
