'Spider-Man: Brand New Day' closes in on 'Avengers: Endgame' for second place all-time

"Spider-Man: Brand New Day" topped the domestic box office for a fourth consecutive weekend, earning $39 million and pushing its North American total to $854.9 million — close enough to "Avengers: Endgame" that the Sony release is on track to become the second-highest-grossing film in United States box office history within days.

The film, Tom Holland's fourth solo outing as Peter Parker, opened July 31 to the biggest domestic debut of all time and has not relinquished the top spot since. Its fourth-weekend total was the seventh-best of any film's fourth weekend on record, and it did so while facing a new wide release, the horror sequel "Insidious: Out of the Further," which opened in second place.

The numbers

Through Sunday, "Brand New Day" had grossed $854,901,026 domestically in 24 days of release, according to daily box-office tracking, putting it roughly $3.4 million behind "Avengers: Endgame's" $858.3 million and $80 million behind "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," which holds the domestic record at $935.6 million. The film has stayed roughly $40 million ahead of "The Force Awakens'" pace at the same point in its run, a gap that has led several box-office analysts to describe an eventual domestic record as close to inevitable.

Worldwide, the film has taken in more than $2.2 billion, already surpassing "The Force Awakens'" global total of $2.07 billion and making "Brand New Day" the highest-grossing release in Sony Pictures' history. It reached the $2 billion mark in 17 days, the second-fastest film ever to do so behind "Endgame." Along the way it set records for the biggest domestic opening weekend ($360 million, topping "Endgame's" $357.1 million), the fastest movie to $700 million and to $800 million domestically, and the biggest Tuesday in box-office history.

The film carried a reported production budget of about $225 million, the second-highest in the Spider-Man franchise's history behind 2007's "Spider-Man 3." Against that budget, and set against the marketing and distribution costs typical of a tentpole release, the film's returns have made it comfortably profitable for Sony well before factoring in streaming, merchandising and home-video revenue still to come.

How it got here

Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, who previously made "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" for Marvel Studios, "Brand New Day" picks up after 2021's "Spider-Man: No Way Home," in which Doctor Strange's spell erased the world's memory of Peter Parker's double identity. Rather than escalate the multiverse spectacle of the previous film, Cretton and screenwriters Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers built the sequel around Peter's isolation, centering his strained relationships with MJ, played again by Zendaya, and his old friends rather than expanding the roster of alternate Spider-Men.

Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group chairman and chief executive Tom Rothman has said the studio deliberately avoided trying to top "No Way Home" on scale. The Motion Picture Association, the studios' own trade group, credited that approach — along with an expanded cast that includes Sadie Sink, Jon Bernthal's Punisher and Mark Ruffalo — with helping the film connect with audiences beyond the built-in Marvel fan base. The film also benefited from an aggressive marketing push and an IMAX expansion into North America in its second week, after strong opening results in China, Japan and South Korea.

Who is affected

The film's run has been a rare bright spot for a domestic theatrical business that spent much of the past several years below pre-pandemic attendance levels. Industry trackers say 2026's North American box office had already crossed $7 billion by late August, roughly 20 percent ahead of the same point last year, with "Brand New Day" alone responsible for a meaningful share of that gain. Exhibitors, whose ticket and concession revenue depends heavily on a handful of tentpole releases each year, have leaned on the film's holdover strength for four straight weekends of relatively light new competition.

Marvel Studios and Disney, which co-produce the character even though Sony distributes the theatrical Spider-Man films under a long-standing agreement, also benefit from the film's performance, as does the wider Sony Group, whose official listing for the film credits Marvel alongside Sony's own production banners. Sony's Pictures division reports its results to Sony Group's parent company in Tokyo, which in turn discloses segment performance in its annual filings with U.S. securities regulators as a foreign private issuer.

Reaction

"Wow! 360 million thank-yous to all the filmmakers, actors, producers, and to my colleagues at Sony, who created such a fantastic film and an exceptional marketing and distribution campaign. Records are made to be broken, but we will take great pride in this one, for as long as we hold it."

That statement from Rothman came after the film's opening weekend and has largely held up as the film has continued setting records through its first month. Ravi Ahuja, chairman and chief executive of Sony Pictures Entertainment, told staff in a memo reported at the time that the film had delivered "the biggest domestic opening weekend of all time" and "a new benchmark for the industry," crediting the filmmaking and marketing teams for a result he said spoke to "tens of millions" of moviegoers worldwide.

What happens next

"Brand New Day" is expected to pass "Avengers: Endgame" for second place on the all-time domestic chart within its next few weeks in theaters, based on its current pace, and could challenge "The Force Awakens'" $935.6 million record before its theatrical run ends. Sony has not announced international expansion plans beyond its current release pattern, but the film continues to add new territories to its list of best-ever openings, with 36 international markets already citing it as Sony's biggest release in that country.

Holland has said he would "play Spider-Man for as long as they'd have me," and Rothman has responded with cautious optimism about future installments, though Sony has not confirmed a fifth solo film. In the nearer term, the studio's focus turns to sustaining the film's theatrical run against a lighter late-summer slate before the fall movie season brings heavier competition for screens.