At a time when the media wants to write the obituary on superhero movies, Spider-Man: Brand New Day wasn’t your run-of-the-mill superhero movie, rather a character-driven, uniquely emotional about friendship, loneliness and connections. It takes a village to break cinematic form and Sony Pictures Entertainment Chairman and CEO celebrated and extolled the studio’s brass and the creative filmmaking team behind Brand New Day as it spokes to tens of millions around the world with the biggest opening ever in North America at $360M and the second-biggest worldwide with $932 million. Here in the states, box office firm EntTelligence reports that a record number of people in the post Covid theatrical era attended the movie at 24M, ahead of the 20M admissions of 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home (this is off of general ticket price of $14.92, and PLF general ticket price of $18.55).
Sony has put their money with their mouth is: They’ve often flown the flag coming out of Covid for theatrical while many others were experimenting with hybrid theatrical-day-and-date streaming releases. Not only does the Culver City, CA lot have the biggest opening in North America here, but we recently told you that the studio is reopening the historic landmark the Cinerama Dome for early 2028.
Below is Ahuja’s note to staff this morning:
Good morning, and what a weekend!
The final ticket count on Sunday night confirmed what once seemed unimaginable: Spider-Man: Brand New Day delivered the biggest domestic opening weekend of all time with $360 million and a remarkable $932 million globally — a historic achievement for Sony Pictures, and a new benchmark for the industry. Audiences around the world have embraced a superhero film that feels grounded, emotional, and unmistakably distinct.
Congratulations and thank you to Tom Rothman and the entire Motion Picture Group, the extraordinary creative leadership of director Destin Daniel Cretton and producers Kevin Feige and Amy Pascal, and to Tom Holland for bringing new depth to Spider-Man. Results like this are only possible when our creators and studio have the confidence to find new dimensions with iconic IP through bold creative choices, world-class marketing and distribution, and outstanding execution.
This weekend is a powerful reminder that moviegoing remains one of the world’s great shared cultural experiences. Let’s keep making history!
Ravi