Spider-Man Brand New Day Breaks Box Office Records, Surpassing The Force Awakens

voice film logo squareArthur S. Poe
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Box office records typically take time to fall, often remaining unbroken for over a decade. This is what made ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ feel unbeatable at the domestic box office, as it held the all-time North American title for more than 10 years while various franchises attempted to dethrone it.

That reign has officially come to an end. Sony’s ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ has surpassed the $936.66 million domestic gross of ‘The Force Awakens’ to become the highest-grossing film in history at the North American box office, unadjusted for inflation, with a current total of $936.77 million.

This milestone carries an even more significant implication. With ‘Brand New Day’ now joining 2021’s ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ among the top five highest-grossing domestic releases of all time, Spider-Man has become the only franchise with two films in this elite group, a feat that neither the Avengers nor Avatar franchises can currently claim.

Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton and featuring Tom Holland and Zendaya, the sequel opened on July 31 and immediately began rewriting the record books. It debuted with the largest domestic opening weekend of all time at $360 million, surpassing the previous record held by ‘Avengers: Endgame,’ and went on to achieve the highest-grossing first week in domestic box office history.

Following that, the film became the second-fastest movie to cross $800 million domestically, achieving this in just 19 days, and later became only the second film to surpass $900 million domestically. Throughout its run, it maintained the top position at the domestic box office for six consecutive weekends before being dethroned by ‘Practical Magic 2,’ with ‘Resident Evil’ expected to take over during its eighth weekend.

Despite this historic dollar figure, ‘Brand New Day’ still trails ‘The Force Awakens’ in one crucial area: ticket sales. The new Spider-Man film has sold around 75 million tickets so far, compared to the approximately 110 million tickets sold by ‘The Force Awakens’ over a decade ago, reflecting a 35 million ticket gap due to rising average ticket prices since 2015.

This distinction is important for contextualizing the record, as dollar totals unadjusted for inflation do not fully capture a film’s cultural impact. Nevertheless, the raw gross now belongs to Sony’s webslinger, and that figure is set to top the domestic chart for the foreseeable future.

Screenshot 2026 08 06 at 10 43 05 Spider Man Brand New Day Rotten Tomatoes

Internationally, ‘Brand New Day’ has also been making waves, surpassing ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ to become the third-highest-grossing film ever worldwide, trailing only ‘Avatar’ and ‘Avengers: Endgame.’ Currently, the film stands at $2.45 billion globally, behind 2009’s ‘Avatar’ at $2.92 billion and ‘Avengers: Endgame’ at $2.799 billion.

This worldwide gap may not remain static for long, as ‘Avengers: Endgame’ is set for a theatrical rerelease later this month under the title ‘Avengers: Endgame: Encore,’ a move that could extend its lead over ‘Brand New Day’ on the global chart, even as the Spider-Man film continues to dominate domestically.

‘The Force Awakens’ held its domestic crown for 11 years before finally losing it, and it remains to be seen whether ‘Brand New Day’ can achieve similar staying power. The film faces no direct competition from another major action tentpole until October 16, when the video game adaptation ‘Street Fighter’ hits theaters, allowing it some breathing room to continue its climb before the fall slate becomes crowded.

That crowded period is approaching quickly, with ‘Avengers: Doomsday,’ ‘Shrek 5,’ ‘Frozen 3,’ ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum,’ and the 2027 follow-up ‘Avengers: Secret Wars’ all on the horizon. For now, Spider-Man holds a record that took over a decade to break, and the franchise’s hold on the top of the domestic chart appears stronger than ever.

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