"Spider-Man: Brand New Day" took in $72 million from preview ticket sales before its official opening. The previous record, $60 million, belonged to "Avengers: Endgame" in 2019. Moviegoers attended in force through Wednesday early access screenings and Thursday night previews, pushing the film past every prior pre-weekend total.
Paul Dergarabedian of Rentrak, who leads marketplace trends, said, "The demand for 'Spider-Man: Brand New Day' is nothing short of astonishing."
The film comes from Sony and Marvel and stars Tom Holland as Peter Parker. Sony is offering it in several premium formats, including HDR by Barco, ScreenX, 4DX, and Dolby Cinema, and AMC, Regal, and Cinemark are also presenting it in their own premium screens.
Analysts currently project about $270 million for the full opening weekend, with some seeing the final figure climb higher. That would put it ahead of "Spider-Man: No Way Home," which opened with $260 million in 2021, and behind "Avengers: Endgame," which earned $357 million over three days in 2019.
Dergarabedian cautioned that pre-weekend business is only one indicator. Other variables can shift the final result, including how much demand is concentrated on opening night and fans' efforts to see the movie before key plot details leak. "Endgame" secured its record launch with round-the-clock programming and additional showtimes. "Brand New Day" has late-night and early-morning screenings to meet demand, though whether that schedule equals "Endgame's" scale remains uncertain.
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The movie will not get an Imax release, since those screens are reserved for Christopher Nolan's and Universal's "The Odyssey." It will still play in premium large-format auditoriums. ScreenX contributed $1.8 million to Thursday's domestic gross and is expected to end the weekend at $4 million. 4DX has generated roughly $1.3 million domestically and is expected to reach $4.5 million during opening weekend.
"Brand New Day" arrives in theaters during the last days of July, meaning most of its earnings will be recorded in August's box office totals. That is welcome news for the domestic market.
Through Sunday, domestic theaters have generated $5.6 billion so far in 2026. That leaves the year-to-date total about 16% below the same stretch of 2019, the last pre-pandemic yardstick; Covid forced cinemas to close and production to pause. The summer season has fared somewhat better, with ticket sales of $3.05 billion versus $3.36 billion at the same point in 2019 - a 9% shortfall.
The gap could narrow even further because Imax will keep "The Odyssey" on its premium screens into September and "Brand New Day" will continue playing through the rest of summer.
The exhibition business enters fall with fresh momentum. Upcoming releases include Lionsgate's "The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping" in November and, on Dec. 18, the heavily anticipated pairing of Warner Bros.' "Dune: Part Three" and Disney's "Avengers: Doomsday."
Since the pandemic, theaters have been working to rebuild attendance. A record preview number of this size suggests audiences are still ready to turn out for event films, which bodes well for a crowded November and December schedule.
The record debut could also help the 2026 box office narrow its gap with 2019.
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