Sony and Marvel Studios’ “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” is turning the box office clock back to 2019 with a historic Friday, earning a $168 million domestic opening day — including $72 million from previews — that passes the $157 million opening day record held by “Avengers: Endgame.”
That new record does have some caveats. The $72 million preview total, also a record, included Wednesday early access screenings held for Prime Video subscribers while Thursday screenings started at noon compared to 6 PM for “Endgame,” meaning more screenings to satisfy demand.
Still, the fact that “Brand New Day” has already cracked the top 10 highest grossing North American releases of the year after roughly 36 hours of screenings shows how impervious “Spider-Man” is to any sort of superhero fatigue plaguing Marvel at the multiplex. This puts the all-time opening weekend record of $357 million, also held by “Endgame,” into play.
It will come down to walk-up traffic on Sunday to determine whether “Brand New Day” breaks that record. Currently, Sony is projecting that the film will fall just short, forecasting a still spectacular $325 million domestic opening weekend. Meanwhile, industry estimates have it just beating “Endgame” with $358 million.
“Endgame” will hold on to the global opening weekend record of $1.22 billion as “Brand New Day” is currently estimated for a worldwide launch of approximately $875 million to $925 million.
But with the second-highest global start of all time and wildly strong early audience scores that include 98% on Rotten Tomatoes and an A on CinemaScore, “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” has all the momentum it needs plow through a relatively light August release slate and become the eighth film to reach $2 billion worldwide (before inflation adjustment).
Meanwhile, Universal and Syncopy’s “The Odyssey” is holding quite well in its third weekend, even with the arrival of such a huge competitor. Christopher Nolan’s epic is set to earn $51 million domestically, which would mark a 43% drop from its $90 million second weekend. That gives the film a $395 million three-weekend domestic total, matching the pace of “Top Gun: Maverick” back in 2022.
If “The Odyssey” maintains the same domestic holds as “Top Gun: Maverick,” it will be on track to gross $1.5 billion worldwide and become the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time (before inflation adjustment).
With these two wildly popular films performing so strongly, this weekend’s overall domestic gross total is set to reach $434 million, passing the $402 million overall total recorded on the opening weekend of “Avengers: Endgame” to become the biggest weekend of business in the history of the U.S/Canada box office. This frame will also push annual domestic grosses past the $6 billion mark.
