Box Office: ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ Second Fastest To Cross $1B Worldwide

Sony/Marvel Studio’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day crossed the $1 billion mark on Monday becoming the second fastest to movie to reach that global milestone after 2019’s Avengers: Endgame which opened to $1.22 billion worldwide.

Again, have to emphasize, but this billion dollar feat comes sans Imax in North America, which provides blockbuster hope for Disney/Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Doomsday at Christmas time. That said, Spidey had Imax in those countries where Odyssey hasn’t raided yet, i.e. Japan, Korea and China.

In regards to why this movie is working, Sony Pictures Motion Pictures Chairman Tom Rothman told Deadline, “Whether you live in Peru, Pakistan, or Peoria, everyone wants friends and wants connection with everyone. Fundamentally this is a movie about friendship and hope.”

While Sony and the filmmakers couldn’t beat the pinnacle of three Spider-Mans in the previous 2021 No Way Home, they went deeper with a pointed character-driven story centering around Peter Parker and a complex villain, who audiences empathize with, in Sadie Sink’s X-Men Jean Gray.

“We led with emotion,” says Rothman about the marketing campaign,which incorporated that tone in the first trailer which became the most watched ever with 719M views in its first 24 hours.

“We stayed with that emotion all the day (throughout the campaign). For all the whiz-bang, the audience doesn’t care about what a movie costs, they care about how it makes them feel. We kept the emotion and the character front and center.”

Also driving this billion dollar superhero is the star wattage of married couple, Tom Holland and Zendaya, who had a double grand slam of a pr tour in July with The Odyssey, the twosome making global red carpet stops for both films across London, Paris, Rome, Shanghai and more. Was that a problem for a studio boss to have two stars promoting two tentpoles at the same time? Would a studio boss have even allowed that in the 1980s, 1990s or early 2000s?

Rothman had no problem. He received a phone call from Holland a year ago, alerting him to the situation. “We had to adjust our timing and our plan. Tom Holland, Zendaya along with Jon Bernthal fully supported both films and both films benefited. This reminds me of what the late great distribution exec Tom Sherak said, ‘A rising tide lifts all boats.’ When people go to the movies, they value experience and that’s what we’ve been needing to do in our business.”

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