‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ Just Made Box Office History With the Biggest Opening Day Ever

Box office record books rarely get rewritten this quickly or this decisively. For seven years, one number has stood as an almost mythical benchmark for the entire film industry, a figure so massive that even the biggest blockbusters couldn’t come close to touching it.

That number belonged to ‘Avengers: Endgame,’ whose 2019 opening day haul became the kind of achievement industry insiders assumed would never be seriously threatened again. Tom Holland’s fourth solo outing as Peter Parker had already been generating record-breaking buzz throughout its release week, but few predicted just how thoroughly it would demolish that particular ceiling.

Now the record has officially fallen. ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ posted the biggest opening day in box office history with $168 million domestically, surpassing ‘Avengers: Endgame’s’ previous all-time first-day record of $157.4 million by more than $10 million.

That total includes the film’s already-historic $72 million in Thursday preview screenings, which had separately broken ‘Endgame’s’ previous previews record of $60 million. With this milestone, ‘Brand New Day’ becomes just the sixth movie in history to top $100 million on opening day including previews, joining an elite club that includes ‘Endgame,’ ‘No Way Home’ at $121.96 million, ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ at $119.1 million, ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ at $106.3 million, and ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ at $104.6 million.

The scale of that achievement becomes even clearer when measured against the franchise’s own history. ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ managed $121.96 million on its opening Friday with previews back in December 2021, meaning ‘Brand New Day’ is now running roughly $50 million ahead of that pace just three years later.

With a three-day domestic estimate now sitting north of $330 million from 4,487 theaters, the film is positioned to claim the second-biggest domestic opening weekend of all time, comfortably clear of ‘No Way Home’s’ $260.1 million debut. That leaves only one number left to chase: ‘Endgame’s’ all-time opening weekend record of $357.1 million.

Sony’s own internal projections had been notably more conservative heading into release, forecasting a domestic start closer to $195 million and a global opening around $465 million. Those numbers now look significantly low given the film’s actual performance, with the studio’s official three-day estimate landing at $325 million, still a stellar second-best opening in North American history even by cautious math.

Audience reception has matched the historic box office numbers step for step. The film has earned an A grade on CinemaScore, a Certified Fresh 91% critics’ score, and a 98% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes that ties the site’s highest-ever mark for an MCU release, with PostTrak exit polls landing at five stars across general audiences, parents, and kids under 12.

International numbers are proving just as staggering, with the film also on track for a five-day overseas opening record of at least $850 million, setting up a potential worldwide theatrical run north of $2 billion given the strong reviews and a notably quiet August release calendar with no major competition standing in its way.

Whether ‘Brand New Day’ ultimately catches ‘Endgame’s’ full weekend record remains to be seen, but for one single day at least, Peter Parker has officially claimed the biggest box office debut in movie history.

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