By Dawn Chmielewski
LOS ANGELES, Aug 2 (Reuters) – “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” brought in a blockbuster $927 million in worldwide ticket sales in its opening weekend, including $355 million in the United States and Canada that made it the No. 2 domestic opening of all time.
The film, which marks actor Tom Holland’s fourth outing as the web-slinging superhero, depicts Peter Parker fighting crime in a world that has forgotten he is Spider-Man. Zendaya co-stars as MJ, the love of Parker’s life.
“‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ is fundamentally a movie about friendship, about the balm of connection in all our lives, and that is resonant to audiences of all ages and all around the world,” Tom Rothman, chairman and chief executive of Sony Pictures Entertainment’s Motion Picture Group, said.
Data from Rentrak indicates “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” had the highest domestic gross opening since the COVID-19 pandemic and the second-highest of all time, behind the 2019 release of the superhero film “Avengers: Endgame,” which raked in an inflation-adjusted $467 million in the United States and Canada.
Internationally, the film grossed $572 million in opening weekend ticket sales, with China leading international markets with $121 million in ticket sales, according to the studio.
Spider-Man is one of the most popular of Marvel’s comic book characters, with a cinematic appeal that endures even as audiences have shown signs of fatigue with the superhero genre. The latest installment has been well-received, scoring a 90% rating from critics and 98% approval from movie-goers on Rotten Tomatoes.
Paul Dergarabedian, head of marketplace trends for Rentrak, said on Friday that the franchise is approaching the $10 billion mark in unadjusted worldwide theatrical box office, which speaks to the character’s appeal.
The performance of “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” fuels an already-robust summer box office, which has been buoyed by such major releases as “Toy Story 5” and “The Odyssey.”
The overall domestic box office performance remains below pre-pandemic levels. Year-to-date receipts are up 10% from last year, but 16% below 2019, the year before the pandemic struck, according to Rentrak.
(Reporting by Dawn Chmielewski in Los Angeles; Editing by Sergio Non and Will Dunham)
