Brand New Day’ Breaks Record For Highest Grossing Film At Domestic Box Office

Key Facts

Big Number

$2.4 billion. That’s how much “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” has grossed worldwide so far. It’s still behind two major films for highest grossing film in the world ever, according to Box Office Mojo data: “Avengers: Endgame,” which grossed $2.8 billion in 2019, and “Avatar,” which grossed $2.9 billion in 2009. Roughly 62% of box office sales for “Spider-Man” came from international markets, compared to 69.3% for the Avengers event film and 73.1% for James Cameron’s sci-fi epic.

Surprising Fact

“Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” which was released in December 2015, broke the old record for highest grossing film at the domestic box office just 20 days after its release, according to distributor Disney at the time. The “Star Wars” reboot broke the record with $760.5 million, but went on to gross $936.6 million for its entire run in theaters. “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” is approaching its eighth weekend in theaters, and is raising the prospect it could approach the unprecedented sum of $1 billion just at North American theaters.

Key Background

“Spider-Man: Brand New Day” has already broken several big records. The highly-anticipated followup to 2021’s “Spider-Man: No Way Home” grossed about $360 million in North America in its debut weekend that included its July 31 release, just edging out the previous record holder (“Avengers: Endgame, which opened with $357.1 million in 2019). It crossed the $1 billion threshold in only six days with ticket sales in international markets—the second-fastest movie to reach the figure. Its first week in theaters set several other records, including for highest-grossing Monday and Tuesday in domestic box office history.

Tangent

“Practical Magic 2” is a rom-com sequel to a 1998 cult hit starring Bullock and Kidman. Its opening weekend is largely in line with other Bullock classics—”The Blind Side” opened with $34.1 million in 2009, “The Proposal” opened with $33.6 million the same year and “Ocean’s 8” opened with $41.6 million in 2018. It’s also ahead of several other classic rom-coms—”Miss Congeniality” opened with $10 million in 2000, and the original “Practical Magic” grossed $13.1 million when it opened in 1998. However, it’s still largely being seen as a disappointment, coming in well below the $40 million-$50 million range predicted by Boxoffice Pro but still within the $30 million-$35 million internal projections from Warner Bros., which were reported by the Hollywood Reporter last week. The film cost about $75 million to make, according to the Hollywood trades.