All signs pointed toward Destin Daniel Cretton’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day being huge. But did anyone see the biggest opening weekend of all time? Well, despite early reports suggesting that Brand New Day was just a few million shy of overtaking Avengers: Endgame’s domestic opening-weekend record, the record now belongs to Tom Holland’s Spidey. According to a report in Variety, it seems that when the final receipts were tallied on Sunday, Spider-Man: Brand New Day beat the Avengers opening weekend box office record, coming in at $360 million in its domestic debut. That’s three million more than Endgame’s $357 million back in 2019. Needless to say, it’s a lot of freakin’ money.
This is an incredible debut for a fourth entry in a long-running series. And if you count the Spider-Man franchise overall, it’s the ninth entry for the web-slinger, making this box office number even more jaw-dropping. The previous film, No Way Home, had the added juice of resolving a major cliffhanger and bringing together all the cinematic Spider-Man actors in one movie. So that one making a ton of money made sense. Despite bringing in the Hulk and Punisher, this Spidey movie didn’t seem to have that same level of hype. But apparently, Spider-Man: Brand New Day was the movie everyone and their mother was waiting for—the box office opening weekend numbers don’t lie.
We should note that this means that Marvel Studios now has the top four domestic box office opening weekends of all time, with the other three being Endgame, Infinity War, and No Way Home. And Tom Holland stars in all of them. He’s also in The Odyssey, which is doing incredibly well, and is married to his stunning co-star Zendaya… Who also happens to be in both these box office-breaking movies. What we’re trying to say is that it is very good to be Tom Holland right about now.
Nerdist Take: Does Spider-Man: Brand New Day Having the Biggest Box Office Opening Weekend Ever Mean Superhero Fatigue is Over?
Does this mean that “superhero fatigue” or even “Marvel fatigue” is over? Well, who knows? We do think that Spider-Man and Batman are two characters that are almost immune to any kind of superhero fatigue. But it certainly bodes well for Avengers: Doomsday this winter. But it’s also interesting that in Brand New Day, the Spider-Man we received was an incredibly earnest, emotional version of the hero.
In a recent study about Gen Z, it was reported that, “For decades, media has relied on the ‘stoic provider’ or the ‘distant hero’ as the default for adult men. Our data shows that by primarily showing men in positions of power or physical strength, we ignore the roles that young people value, defined by empathy, patience, and emotional availability.” Perhaps Spider-Man: Brand New Day reveals that true box office success (opening weekend and otherwise) and the key to ending superhero fatigue is by mixing the two streams. More emotions in with our heroes, please.
Like the Box Office Opening Weekend Numbers Say, We’re Ready for More Spider-Man
In any case, at almost a billion dollars globally in less than a week, you can be certain that Sony is backing up the Brinks truck to Tom Holland’s house as we speak for a sixth Spider-Man movie. Hopefully, Sony and Marvel bring back Destin Daniel Cretton as well. And let’s not wait five years for another live-action Spidey again, Sony and Marvel. As a culture, we need our Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.