‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ in ScreenX Offers a Game-Changing Experience

Premium theatrical formats often come and go without much attention, quietly vying for moviegoers’ interest against the industry’s dominant players. However, a new format can sometimes emerge at just the right moment to change the conversation around movie viewing.

That’s the case for ScreenX as ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ hits theaters, propelled into the spotlight by a unique circumstance. With Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’ securing every domestic IMAX screen through a multi-week exclusivity deal, Sony turned to CJ 4DPlex’s panoramic 270-degree format as a premium alternative for Tom Holland’s latest adventure.

What sets this rollout apart from previous ScreenX presentations is that ‘Brand New Day’ is the first film officially “Shot for ScreenX.” This means the side-screen footage was captured on set using dedicated camera rigs, rather than being generated digitally afterward. Early audience reactions indicate that this distinction significantly enhances the viewing experience.

An audience member who attended an early ScreenX screening in Bengaluru, India, described the horizontally expanded sequences as looking “fantastic,” particularly praising how the New York cityscape and Spider-Man’s swinging action translated to the panoramic format. The viewer, a longtime ScreenX fan, noted that the presentation exceeded their expectations.

This feedback highlights a common criticism of ScreenX in the past: the side-screen content often appeared blurrier or more artificial than the main image. According to the same viewer, the side projections in ‘Brand New Day’ looked sharper and more natural than previous ScreenX presentations, though still slightly softer than the center screen to mimic peripheral vision.

Critics reviewing the film in this format have echoed similar sentiments. One review noted that it took approximately 14 years since ScreenX’s introduction in 2012 for a film to be shot natively for the format, crediting director Destin Daniel Cretton’s use of multiple camera rigs on set for capturing wide peripheral angles during action sequences, including a tank chase and a fight against a group of assassins, without the visual distortion that has affected earlier ScreenX presentations.

Not every reaction has been positive, however. The same Bengaluru viewer mentioned a concern that the overall picture appeared dimmer compared to a standard 3D screening they had experienced elsewhere, though they were unsure if this was due to projector calibration issues specific to their theater rather than a flaw with the format itself.

CJ 4DPlex CEO Jun Bang has positioned this new initiative as a significant evolution for the format, aiming to expand the film’s visual canvas while maintaining the director’s creative vision. Cretton himself stated that the collaboration allowed his team to shoot footage specifically designed for ScreenX auditoriums, rather than relying on digital extensions added later.

This approach marks a notable shift from how ScreenX has traditionally operated. Critics of the format have long argued that the side-screen content in previous releases often amounted to little more than blurry CGI extensions that added minimal value, making the extra screens feel like an afterthought rather than a meaningful enhancement.

‘Brand New Day’s approach seems designed to directly address these criticisms by integrating the panoramic footage into the production itself. ScreenX has been gaining momentum throughout the year, with titles like ‘The Mandalorian and Grogu,’ ‘Toy Story 5,’ and ‘The Super Mario Galaxy Movie’ all performing well in this format, with the Mario sequel achieving the company’s largest opening weekend ever at $2.7 million.

It remains to be seen whether ScreenX can maintain this momentum beyond ‘Brand New Day,’ especially given the format’s relatively limited presence of around 140 locations across the United States and Canada.

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