Sony/Marvel Studios’ “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” is simply unstoppable at the box office, earning an incredible $145 million domestic and $381 million worldwide in its second weekend in theaters to bring its global total to $1.67 billion.
With $655 million in the U.S. and Canada, the latest “Spider-Man” film has grossed more money before inflation adjustment than any other film in domestic box office history after 10 days of theatrical play. It is now on pace to become the first film to gross $1 billion domestically before adjustment, passing the all-time North American record of $936 million held by “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.”
Overseas, the film continues to perform very well in China with $186 million, putting it on pace to join the top 10 highest grossing Hollywood releases of all time in that country. That list only has two films released after the COVID-19 pandemic: “Avatar: The Way of Water” with $245.9 million and the Hollywood record holder “Zootopia 2” with $651.9 million.
“Brand New Day” is also now the highest grossing Hollywood release ever in India, standing at $52.8 million. Other top countries include the U.K. with an $87.4 million total, Mexico with $65.8 million and France with $49.2 million.
At this pace, “Brand New Day” will reach the $2 billion mark sometime this week and will be on pace to join “Avatar” and “Avengers: Endgame” as only the third film to pass $2.5 billion before inflation adjustment.
Universal/Syncopy’s “The Odyssey” is in second with $31.5 million domestic, bringing its total to $461 million domestic and $1.1 billion worldwide. The latter total means that “The Odyssey” has passed the 2012 film “The Dark Knight Rises” as director Christopher Nolan’s highest grossing release before inflation adjustment.
Of that $1.1 billion, $289 million has come from Imax screenings, making “The Odyssey” the highest grossing Imax film of all time with $37.5 million coming from the 41 worldwide locations screening the film in Imax 70mm through mid-September. While “The Odyssey” is now sharing the premium format with “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” the film still added $37.3 million worldwide from Imax screenings this weekend.
And even with “Brand New Day” dominating the global box office, “The Odyssey” still made $110 million globally from all screenings, boosted by a $14.5 million opening weekend in South Korea that is the highest ever for a Nolan film.
In third is Universal’s “One Night Only,” the highest grossing new release of the weekend with just $5.7 million from 3,012 locations. The romance film from director Will Gluck and starring Monica Barbaro and Callum Turner is opening just below the $6 million of Gluck’s leggy 2023 hit “Anyone But You,” but it remains to be seen if the word-of-mouth on this film about a couple in a world where the unmarried are only allowed to have sex one night each year will carry as far. “One Night Only” earned a B+ on CinemaScore and has a 72% Rotten Tomatoes audience score.
In fourth is Searchlight’s “Super Troopers 3” with an anemic $4 million from 2,700 theaters, less than a third of the $15 million opening that “Super Troopers 2” earned in 2018. The Broken Lizard comedy threequel opened just above the $3.9 million eighth weekend of Disney/Pixar’s “Toy Story 5,” which stands at $470 million domestic and $1.09 billion worldwide.
Finally, there’s Eli Roth’s unrated gory horror film “Ice Cream Man,” which grossed $2 million from 1,682 locations. The film about a mysterious man who possesses children with ice cream bars and sends them to kill their parents was self-distributed by Roth through his new production company, The Horror Section.
“Ice Cream Man” has gotten weak reception with a 27% critics and 49% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, but as a self-distributed title with a reported budget of just $5.5 million, it should clear its break-even point and serve as a successful launch for The Horror Section.
More to come…