One of the many reasons why Spider-Man: Brand New Day has been rewriting the box office history books since it premiered is strong word of mouth. Like all of the previous Tom Holland-led Spider-Man movies, Brand New Day received enthusiastic reviews, with many people praising its emotional character driven story and practical filmmaking techniques. Brand New Day was going to be a massive moneymaker regardless, but that reception certainly didn’t hurt its commercial prospects. The critical response was so positive that for a while, Brand New Day ranked among the top 10 highest-rated Marvel Cinematic Universe movies on Rotten Tomatoes, but now it’s lost that status.
As of this writing, Spider-Man: Brand New Day has a Rotten Tomatoes score of 90%, putting it just on the outskirts of the MCU’s top 10 list. Brand New Day is currently tied for 11th place with Captain America: Civil War and Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Check out the MCU’s top 10 in the table below:
As of this writing, there have been 399 reviews for Spider-Man: Brand New Day submitted to Rotten Tomatoes. In comparison, No Way Home has 430 reviews, and other MCU installments from this decade like Deadpool & Wolverine, The Fantastic Four: First Steps, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 have over 400 as well. Just about everyone has weighed in with their thoughts on Brand New Day at this point, but there could still be some stragglers who haven’t shared their reviews with Rotten Tomatoes yet. That means there’s a chance Brand New Day could overtake the three films tied with 91% and work its way back into the top 10 — but it won’t be easy.
By now, the sheer volume of Brand New Day reviews is so large that it’s going to take more than just a couple of more positive reviews to move past the trio of Far From Home, Avengers, and Guardians. Hypothetically, if Brand New Day eventually matches its direct predecessor with 430 reviews, and all 31 of those new reviews are positive, the Rotten Tomatoes score would improve to 90.6%. Should Brand New Day receive the same number of reviews as Far From Home (454), and all 55 of those new reviews are fresh, the score would only go up to 91.1%. In these scenarios, Brand New Day would be tied with the three movies currently ahead of it, but the odds of it reclaiming sole possession of one of those top 10 spots are low.
If there are more Brand New Day reviews to come, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to assume there could be a few more negative ones, which would make the film’s path to 92% even harder. Just about everyone is in agreement that Brand New Day is one of the best blockbusters of the summer movie season, but there are some dissenters who don’t think so highly of the film. A handful of additional rotten reviews could be all that it takes to keep Brand New Day where it is, or even drag the score down into the 80s. The 90% Brand New Day currently has is a result of Rotten Tomatoes rounding up; right now, 359 of the 399 reviews are fresh, which comes out to 89.9%.
Brand New Day being as well-received as it is and still fighting for a place in the MCU’s top 10 is a testament to Marvel’s incredible track record — particularly during the Infinity Saga. The MCU became the most successful film franchise in Hollywood history because it had a knack for producing quality, entertaining tentpoles that appealed to both general moviegoers and die-hard Marvel fans. Obviously, some installments were better than others (even during the heyday of the Infinity Saga, Marvel had some duds), but the studio has been remarkably consistent since 2008.
