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Here it is, once again, the biggest opening of the year as Sony/Marvel Studios‘ Spider-Man: Brand New Day looks to eradicate all superhero fatigue with an estimated $465M global debut in what is a 99% foreign footprint.
That would stand as Sony’s biggest-reported global opening ever after its previous Tom Holland-Zendaya pairing in 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home, which began with an awesome $600.5M worldwide start, and ahead of 2003’s Spider-Man 3‘s $381.6M.
No Way Home stands as the biggest opening post-Covid and the third-biggest opening ever at the worldwide B.O., after 2019’s Avengers: Endgame ($1.22B) and 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War ($640.5M).
Among all post-Covid global bows, Spider-Man: Brand New Day is looking to rank third behind No Way Home and 2025’s Zooptopia 2 ($560.3M WW) and ahead of 2022’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness ($452M WW), 2024’s Deadpool & Wolverine ($444.7M WW), 2023’s Avatar: The Way of Water ($441.7M WW) and Chinese animated sequel Ne Zha 2 ($431.2M WW).
So many asterisks to the projection: There’s a lot of bullishness out there from rivals and the industry that the $225M-net production could do significantly more than what’s out there.
Word is that North American presales stand at $80M, which is around the $78M that Spider-Man: No Way Home logged before its start. NRG is seeing a $195M domestic opening at 4,300 theaters, which still would stand as the best of 2026, ahead of Disney/Pixar’s Toy Story 5 ($159.6M), but others believe the number is closer to $250M.
North American previews start at noon Thursday, but there’s a one-showtime preview on Wednesday night for Prime members. Everyone is expected to show up to the movie including women under 25, who usually are the last ones to a Marvel pic — the appeal here being not just Zendaya but Stranger Things‘ Sadie Sink joining the dramatis personae.
With an international forecast is around $270M, the comp for foreign here is Deadpool & Wolverine, which bowed to a reported $233.3M.
