“Spider-Man: Brand New Day” is continuing its unparalleled box office run, scoring another $145 million domestically during its second weekend in theaters.
Just to put those stratospheric ticket sales in context, only one movie this year — “Toy Story 5” — earned around that much in its opening weekend, with Disney’s Pixar adventure debuting to $159 million. “Brand New Day” scored the third-biggest second weekend of all time, trailing just 2015’s “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” with $149 million and 2019’s “Avengers: Endgame” with $147 million. Only eight movies have ever surpassed $100 million in their sophomore outings.
After opening to a record-setting $355 million domestically and heroic $932 million globally, “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” has now generated a staggering $655 million in North America and $1.67 billion globally. Sony and Marvel’s web-slinging adventure, starring Tom Holland as the title hero, flew past the billion-dollar mark in just six days and is barreling toward $2 billion.
At this pace, box office watchers are wondering whether “Spidey” has the staying power to become the first movie to ever reach $1 billion at the domestic box office and become the sole film to hit $3 billion globally.
“The Force Awakens” is currently the highest-grossing release in domestic box office history with $936.6 million, while 2009’s “Avatar” and “Avengers: Endgame” stand as the biggest movies worldwide with $2.9 billion and $2.7 billion, respectively, after several re-releases.
In a distant second place on domestic box office charts, “The Odyssey” remained muscular with $31.5 million in its fourth weekend of release — a 38% decline.
With $461 million domestically and $1.1 billion worldwide, “The Odyssey” officially ranks as Christopher Nolan’s highest-grossing movie of all time, overtaking 2012’s “The Dark Knight Rises” ($1.08 billion) and 2009’s “The Dark Knight” ($1.008 billion) to notch the achievement.
Nolan’s Greek epic, starring Matt Damon, isn’t close to slowing down in theaters. Imax screens are sold out through mid-September, with the format already contributing a massive $289 million in ticket sales.
This weekend, “The Odyssey” became Imax’s highest-grossing release of all time, surpassing the lifetime haul of “Avatar” with $271 million.
And the film doesn’t even open in China, the world’s second-biggest moviegoing market, until next week. It’s a testament to Nolan’s bankability that a nearly three-hour, adult-skewing sword-and-sandal adventure, adapted from Homer’s 2,700-year-old poem, is one of this summer’s biggest blockbusters.
“Christopher Nolan has earned audiences’ trust by consistently delivering must-see theatrical events,” says Jim Orr, Universal’s president of domestic theatrical distribution. “And ‘The Odyssey’ is him operating at the peak of his powers.”
With “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” and “The Odyssey” capturing the lion’s share of attention, three new movies opened nationwide to mostly disappointing results.
Universal’s raucous romantic comedy “One Night Only” debuted below expectations with $5.7 million from 3,012 theaters, enough for third place on box office charts. Callum Turner and Monica Barbaro star in the R-rated movie, which revolves around two strangers who keep running into each other around a dystopian New York City on the one night a year when premarital sex is legal. Opening weekend crowds were mostly female (70%), while more than half of ticket buyers were between the ages of 18 and 34.
Director Will Gluck’s prior film, 2023’s “Anyone But You,” starring Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell, opened to $6 million. However, that movie, which opened around Christmastime, became a sleeper hit with $88 million domestically and $220 million globally by the end of its run. “One Night Only” scored a decent “B+” grade on CinemaScore exit polls, so Universal is hoping the $25 million-budgeted movie can enjoy a similarly long life on the big screen.
“Super Troopers 3” launched at No. 4 with $4 million from 2,760 venues, by far the lowest start in the comedy trilogy.
The original 2001 adventure, following the over-the-top antics of a ragtag group of New England highway patrol officers, opened to $6.2 million, not adjusted for inflation, while the 2018 sequel captured $15.1 million in its debut.
Critics and audiences were mixed on the hijinks of Broken Lizard, the comedy troupe at the center of these movies, with “Super Trooper 3” landing a “B-” grade on CinemaScore and 48% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Director Eli Roth’s slasher “Ice Cream Man” scraped together $2 million from 1,671 screens in its opening weekend, landing in eighth place behind holdovers like “Toy Story 5,” “Minions & Monsters” and “Moana.” Roth, who directed “Borderlands” after making a name for himself with gory thrillers like “Hostel” and “The Green Inferno,” raised the $5.5 million needed to fund “Ice Cream Man” and self-distributed the movie through his indie company The Horror Section.
Meanwhile, three indie releases — A24’s coming-of-age story “Tony,” Mubi’s slasher “Teenage Sex and Death and Camp Miasma” and Magnolia’s New York-set drama “Late Fame” — each managed to impress while playing on just a few screens.
“Tony,” a biopic about the origins of celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain, served up one of the best screen averages of the year with $348,955 from six screens in New York City and Los Angeles — translating to $58,159 per location.
A24 is behind the other top screen averages of 2026, including the Charli XCX mockumentary “The Moment” ($107,000 per screen) and Olivia Wilde’s relationship drama “The Invite ($54,158 per screen). Those metrics don’t always result in populist hits.
“The Moment” fizzled with $5 million globally, while “The Invite” has earned a solid $42 million and counting. “Tony,” directed by Matt Johnson and starring “The Holdovers” breakout Dominic Sessa as a young Bourdain, has been positively reviewed, though its commercial appeal will be tested as A24 continues to roll out the movie in select markets before bringing it nationwide on Aug. 21.
“Teenage Sex and Death and Camp Miasma,” the latest from “I Saw the TV Glow” director Jane Schoenbrun, earned $251,000 from five screens — averaging $50,300 per location. Nearly 80% of audiences were under 35, while half were under 25 years old, according to exit polls. The well-reviewed movie revolves around a filmmaker (Hannah Einbinder) who is hired to direct a reboot of a slasher franchise.
Mubi will open the film, co-starring Gillian Anderson, in 50 new theaters next weekend before launching nationwide on Aug. 21.
“Late Fame,” which is screening at just two theaters, New York’s Film Forum and Film at Lincoln Center, brought in $38,000 or $19,000 per venue. Directed by Kent Jones, “Late Fame” follows Willem Dafoe as a former poet who befriends a group of young artists.
Next weekend will bring a handful of new wide releases, including the Warner Bros. sci-fi mystery “The End of Oak Street” with Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor, Paramount’s “PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie” and Black Bear’s “The Rivals of Amziah King” starring Matthew McConaughey. However, those movies won’t be able to catch Spidey at the top of the box office charts.
Source: Variety
-Agencies
