Spider-Man spun a massive weekend for movie theaters, flouting superhero fatigue and giving a major boost to Hollywood's summer box office.
Sony Pictures' "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" opened to an estimated $927 million in global box-office sales, making it the second-biggest film debut ever, according to the studio.
The movie's domestic opening of $355 million through Sunday is by far the largest launch of 2026. If estimates hold, the film's domestic weekend total will come in just shy of the record set by Disney's "Avengers: Endgame" in 2019. That picture grossed $357 million in its debut from the U.S. and Canada and went on to achieve a global gross of $2.8 billion.
The Spider-Man opening is a much-needed success for the superhero movie genre, which has been in a slump recently after dominating the box office in the 2010s.
Warner-owned DC Studios' "Supergirl" flopped in July, and Disney's Marvel Studios had several disappointments last year including "Thunderbolts" and "Captain America: Brave New World." Audiences, particularly younger ones, have grown skeptical of mega-franchises they once embraced.
But Spider-Man has been immune to that trend.
The character has propelled box-office hits since 2002's "Spider-Man," directed by Sam Raimi, set the template for the modern superhero blockbuster.
The previous live-action Spider-Man movie, 2021's "Spider-Man: No Way Home," is the second-highest-grossing Hollywood film of the decade so far, with $1.91 billion worldwide. Sony's animated "Across the Spider-Verse" grossed $690.8 million in 2023. And Disney's preschool cartoon "Spidey and His Amazing Friends" is a huge hit that helps create fans.
"Brand New Day" is a win for Sony, which keeps all the money the movie makes -- after sharing revenue with theaters -- under a licensing deal it signed in 1999 with then-struggling comic-book publisher Marvel.
Marvel, now owned by Disney, controls merchandise rights to the character, which typically get a boost from toy and other product sales thanks to a hit movie.
Marvel also benefits because "Brand New Day" helps to set up the story of its December team-up movie "Avengers: Doomsday."
"Brand New Day," which stars Tom Holland as the title character for the fourth time, is well positioned to surpass 2026's other blockbusters, such as Disney-Pixar's "Toy Story 5," Universal Pictures' "The Odyssey," and "The Super Mario Galaxy Movie," to be the biggest hit of the year.
"Brand New Day" received largely positive reviews from critics, earning a 90% "fresh" score from Rotten Tomatoes. Audiences gave it an "A" grade, according to research firm CinemaScore.
In addition to its huge opening in the U.S., the movie took in $572 million from foreign markets. China led international markets for "Brand New Day" with $121 million. China has been a challenging market for Hollywood movies in the past few years, with rare exceptions including last year's "Zootopia 2."
The new Spider-Man film reached its epic heights despite not playing on Imax screens, which are still committed to "The Odyssey," from writer-director Christopher Nolan. The film based on the Greek epic poem has grossed $911 million after three weekends in theaters.
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