Heading into the summer, everyone could have predicted that Spider-Man: Brand New Day would be one of the season’s top earners. What even the most optimistic Marvel fan may not have seen coming, however, was just how much Brand New Day was going to make. Without the multiversal angle that made Spider-Man: No Way Home a genuine event film five years ago, initial tracking suggested Brand New Day would post a far more modest (by Spider-Man standards) opening. Instead, Brand New Day blew any and all expectations out of the water, grossing a staggering $360 million domestically in its first weekend. From there, the film has been putting together a historic box office run that’s seen it rewrite the record books, and now it’s claimed another notable record.
According to Deadline, Spider-Man: Brand New Day has passed the $800 million domestic mark. It accomplished this feat in just 19 days, besting the previous record that belonged to Star Wars: The Force Awakens (23 days). Brand New Day is only the fourth film in history to earn $800+ million in North America, joining The Force Awakens, Avengers: Endgame, and No Way Home in that exclusive club. This may not be the only Star Wars record Brand New Day beats; per Global Box Office on X, it’s still projected to top The Force Awakens‘ lifetime record ($936.6 million), with a range set between $950 million – $1 billion.
At this point, it’s becoming more and more likely that Brand New Day will be the highest-grossing film of all time (unadjusted for inflation) by the time its run is over. The math here is pretty straightforward. Per Deadline, Brand New Day‘s domestic total was at $794 million after Monday, August 17th. The outlet notes that the film is estimated to gross about $9 million today, August 18th, bringing its haul up to around $803 million (we’ll know the actual number when the final figures come in). This means that only $133.6 million separates Brand New Day from The Force Awakens; in a vacuum, that’s a large amount of money, but in the context of this discussion, it’s relatively small potatoes.
Brand New Day continues to dominate the marketplace, retaining the No. 1 position for three consecutive weekends. It’s all but a guaranteed to extend that streak to four this coming weekend. The projection is roughly $35 million, which will be well ahead of this week’s batch of newcomers, such as horror film Insidious: Out of the Further and action vehicle Mutiny. Depending on how things go, Brand New Day may even outperform its estimates again, pushing it all the more closer to The Force Awakens.
As a critically acclaimed, beloved movie about Spider-Man (one of the few characters immune to any feelings of superhero fatigue), Brand New Day was always going to make a ton of money at the box office. But Sony was extremely smart in scheduling it for the end of July, setting it up for a long, fruitful run where it could take advantage of very weak competition. There have been plenty of new arrivals throughout August, but nothing was on the level of a four-quadrant Marvel movie. Had Brand New Day bowed in May or June, perhaps its figures wouldn’t have been as high because it would have gone up against stiffer competition.
With Brand New Day continuing to make history, it’s increasing interest in how Avengers: Doomsday will perform at the box office when it opens this December. Though Doomsday doesn’t hit theaters for another four months, tickets are already on sale, and the pre-sales have topped Brand New Day. It’s too early for full Doomsday weekend projections to be available, but based on how things are shaping up, it could have one of the biggest opening weekends of all time. Perhaps, remarkably, there could be two Marvel movies breaking record this year.
