‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ Is About to Rewrite China’s Box Office History Books

Superhero movies have had a rough go of it in China over the past several years, with the genre largely shut out of the kind of blockbuster success it once enjoyed in the market. Since Marvel’s biggest crossover event years ago, comic book films have struggled to reconnect with Chinese audiences at the scale studios once took for granted.

That drought has made the buildup to Tom Holland’s latest Spider-Man outing especially significant, particularly given the added complication that its predecessor never even reached Chinese theaters at all. With that barrier finally cleared this time around, expectations for how the new film could perform overseas have been building steadily in the weeks leading up to release.

Those expectations have now translated into staggering numbers. According to Global Box Office, ‘Spider-Man, Brand New Day’ is currently tracking to earn between $130,000,000 and $155,000,000 during its opening weekend in China, positioning it as Hollywood’s biggest live-action film debut in the country since ‘Avengers: Endgame.’ Presales have reportedly been outperforming even the most optimistic early projections heading into release.

That trajectory lines up with a string of presale milestones the film has already broken in the lead-up to opening weekend. According to reporting on Chinese box office tracking, the film has already surpassed the entire presale totals posted by both ‘Deadpool and Wolverine’ and ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3,’ setting a new post-pandemic record for comic book movie advance sales in the market. Some tracking has suggested the film could become the first live-action Hollywood release since 2022’s ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ to cross $100,000,000 during its opening weekend there.

Much of that momentum has coincided directly with the film’s global promotional tour, which has carried stars Tom Holland and Zendaya through cities including Madrid, Berlin, Rome, Paris, London, and Mexico City before making a splashy stop in Shanghai. That in-person visit to China appears to have significantly boosted local interest, with presales accelerating noticeably in the days following their appearance.

The absence of the previous Spider-Man film from Chinese theaters has added extra weight to this release specifically. That earlier film reportedly never played in the market due to a scene featuring the Statue of Liberty, a restriction that did not stop it from grossing close to $1,900,000,000 worldwide but left one of the industry’s largest markets completely untapped. With that obstacle cleared this time, some outlets have floated the possibility that ‘Brand New Day’ could ultimately surpass its predecessor’s global total entirely.

Domestically, the film has been generating similarly historic numbers, reportedly posting the best first day presales of any release in five years, a mark previously held by the earlier Spider-Man installment itself. Combined with China’s surging demand, some trackers have floated global opening weekend projections reaching as high as $550,000,000, a figure that would place the film among the largest superhero debuts ever recorded.

The film follows Peter Parker four years after the events of his last outing, continuing to fight crime anonymously in New York City after the world was made to forget his identity, all while facing a powerful new threat tied to an unexpected transformation in his abilities.

With ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ set to open on July 31, all signs currently point toward the film becoming one of the defining box office stories of the year, both domestically and in a Chinese market that superhero movies have struggled to crack in recent memory.

What do you think about Spider-Man potentially reclaiming its box office crown in China? Share your thoughts in the comments.