‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ Breaks Box Office Records With Historic Opening Day

Box office records are rarely rewritten so swiftly or decisively. For seven years, one figure stood as a near-mythical benchmark for the film industry, a number so colossal that even the largest blockbusters couldn’t approach it.

That figure belonged to ‘Avengers: Endgame,’ whose 2019 opening day earnings became an achievement that industry insiders believed would never be seriously challenged again. Tom Holland’s fourth solo outing as Peter Parker had been generating record-breaking buzz throughout its release week, but few anticipated just how thoroughly it would shatter that particular ceiling.

Now, that record has officially fallen. ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ achieved the biggest opening day in box office history with $168 million domestically, surpassing ‘Avengers: Endgame’s’ previous all-time first-day record of $157.4 million by over $10 million.

This total includes the film’s already-historic $72 million from Thursday preview screenings, which separately broke ‘Endgame’s’ previous previews record of $60 million. With this milestone, ‘Brand New Day’ becomes just the sixth film in history to surpass $100 million on opening day, including previews, joining an elite club that features ‘Endgame,’ ‘No Way Home’ at $121.96 million, ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ at $119.1 million, ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ at $106.3 million, and ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ at $104.6 million.

The magnitude of this achievement becomes even clearer when compared to the franchise’s own history. ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ earned $121.96 million on its opening Friday with previews back in December 2021, meaning ‘Brand New Day’ is now running approximately $50 million ahead of that pace just three years later.

With a three-day domestic estimate now exceeding $330 million from 4,487 theaters, the film is set to claim the second-biggest domestic opening weekend of all time, comfortably surpassing ‘No Way Home’s’ $260.1 million debut. This leaves only one number left to chase: ‘Endgame’s’ all-time opening weekend record of $357.1 million.

Sony’s internal projections had been notably more conservative leading up to the release, estimating a domestic start closer to $195 million and a global opening around $465 million. Those figures now appear significantly low given the film’s actual performance, with the studio’s official three-day estimate landing at $325 million, still a remarkable second-best opening in North American history even by cautious calculations.

Audience reception has matched the historic box office figures step for step. The film has received an A grade on CinemaScore, a Certified Fresh 91% critics’ score, and a 98% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, tying the site’s highest-ever mark for an MCU release, with PostTrak exit polls landing at five stars across general audiences, parents, and kids under 12.

International numbers are proving just as impressive, with the film also on track for a five-day overseas opening record of at least $850 million, setting up a potential worldwide theatrical run exceeding $2 billion given the strong reviews and a notably quiet August release calendar with no major competition in sight.

Whether ‘Brand New Day’ ultimately catches ‘Endgame’s’ full weekend record remains to be seen, but for at least one single day, Peter Parker has officially claimed the title of the biggest box office debut in movie history.

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