WTF just happened?
Since the dawn of the streaming era, conventional wisdom has been that people didn’t want to go to the movie theater anymore. For a while, that argument seemed to be backed by numbers. The mid-budget movie was disappearing, you couldn’t give away tickets to comedies, and all of the box office action was concentrated in a small constellation of mega-franchises. That era came to a head in 2019, when Avengers: Endgame grossed $357 million in North America on its opening weekend, making April 26-29, 2019, the busiest weekend in the history of the movie business. A year later, the pandemic shut down theaters for almost two years. Even after the theaters reopened, the crowds did not return right away, and the SAG/AFTRA strikes put a serious dent in the Hollywood production schedules, thus adding to the streamers’ triumphalism, and causing much angst in cinephile circles. Sure, Barbenheimer put some asses in seats, but Endgame Weekend would never be equaled.
But beginning around the middle of 2025, attendance started to tick up again — but not for the franchises. Avatar: Fire and Ash put some big numbers on the board, but not big enough to justify its astronomical budget. The Fantastic Four: First Steps, a film whose title sounds less like a comic book and more like a corporate onboarding video, was a break-even proposition, while The Mandalorian & Grogu was the worst performing Star Wars film of all time, and Supergirl crashed to Earth. Instead, the biggest unexpected hits of 2026 were Backrooms, a mid-budget horror film based on an internet meme, and Obsession, an original horror story which recently became the most profitable film ever, with a budget of less than $1 million, beating a record held for 53 years by Bruce Lee’s Enter The Dragon. Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, an old-fashioned, sword-and-sandals epic, opened big and showed staying power.
(Photo: Courtesy Sony Pictures)
Then came Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Since previews started last Thursday, the $225 million Marvel/Sony co-production has grossed $360 million domestically, and $932 million worldwide. And once you add in The Odyssey’s seemingly unstoppable IMAX run, July 27-31, 2026, is now the busiest weekend in filmgoing history, topping $400 million for the first time.
So, WTF just happened? I have some theories. First of all, Marvel/Sony put up a record $302 million to promote the film, and that investment paid off.
Second, the conventional wisdom that people — particularly young people — just want to sit at home and stare at their phones is no longer operative. Being on social media in the second Trump era means being bombarded by propaganda and insipid influencers who are constantly reminding you that the world is on fire. Rather than doomscroll to watch what the worst people in American history are up to, we’d rather go to the movies and escape for a couple of hours.
Third, people love Spider-Man more than any other superhero. Sorry, Batman, but the writing’s on the wall. Peter Parker is not an alien with godlike powers, or a rich-guy vigilante, but instead an ordinary high school science nerd who is accidentally imbued with superpowers. The most relatable superhero doesn’t even care about saving the world like his comic book peers. As Black Widow (Florence Pugh) reminds him in Brand New Day, The Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man’s New York beat is “small potatoes,” while the Avengers handle the “big potatoes.” Spidey is proof that stakes inflation won’t help if your characters aren’t compelling. He’s the everyman superhero, the hard worker who never gets the respect he deserves.
The fourth thing that TF happened was Tom Holland and Zendaya. They are an acting power couple on the level of Bogart and Bacall, Hepburn and Tracy, or Taylor and Burton. The newlyweds are part of the ensemble in The Odyssey, and here, they’re the main attraction. Holland holds the screen with a leading man’s confidence, even when he’s wearing only the mask and a towel. It’s almost too much confidence for Spider-Man, who always wears his insecurities on his sleeve. But this Peter Parker has been through a lot. Since he asked Dr. Strange to erase his memory from the world, he’s thrown himself into superheroing, working closely with the mayor (Zabryna Guevara) to take down criminals in the Big Apple. He’s well into a 48 Hours-style buddy comedy with The Punisher (Jon Bernthal) when he runs into MJ (Zendaya), who no longer remembers him. It’s a painful reminder that Spider-Man sometimes has to do things that will break Peter Parker’s heart. As the mayor reminds him, being married to the job never ends well.
Director Destin Daniel Cretton realized that what the world really wants and needs right now is to hang out with Spider-Man. The alleged plot, which involves Sadie Sink as a certain well-known rogue telepath from an adjacent IP, is secondary to watching MJ and Peter circle each other. Peter changed the universe to protect her, but, as she points out, he didn’t ask her if she needed protecting that badly. The not-really romance is by far the most compelling part of the picture. The pacing is languid, especially for a summer blockbuster action picture; the set pieces feel perfunctory, especially compared to the animated fireworks of Across the Spider-Verse; and the attempts to connect to the moribund MCU are annoying. In the end, Holland and Zendaya carry the day through sheer star power. It’s not The Amazing Spider-Man. It’s more like The Adequate Spider-Man. But that’s enough to make history.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day
Now playing
Multiple locations
