It would be a gross understatement to say that Spider-Man: Brand New Day has been a box office juggernaut since its release as part of the 2026 movie schedule. After the film opened in late July, it remained No. 1 at the B.O. for five weeks in a row and was only just dethroned by Practical Magic 2. As it stands, the Tom Holland-led flick is now the highest grossing movie of the year and the third highest-grossing movie of all time. Now, it’s just overtaken another big record from Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and Lucasfilm celebrated.
Since 2015, J.J. Abrams’ The Force Awakens held the record for the highest-grossing domestic release of all time with a whopping $936 million in North America. However, that record is no more, as Destin Daniel Cretton’s Brand New Day has notched $936.773 million domestically after 47 days in theaters. Upon that new benchmark being established, Lucafilm shared a fun graphic on Instagram, and I love just how perfect it is. Take a look for yourself, and I dare you not to crack a smile:
The sight of a triumphant Spider-Man celebrating while X-wings fly over the New York City landscape makes this nerd chuckle, and that Force-related caption is a perfect way to sum up this tremendous accomplishment. What warms my heart even more is that this gesture signifies a sizable amount of respect between studios and, over the years, it’s become a tradition of sorts. Sure, Disney owns both Lucasfilm and Marvel Studios (which co-produced this Spidey flick with Sony), but it’s still a lovely sign of admiration.
Aside from the Star Wars-centric studio, a couple of others have also given Brand New Day its flowers amid its historic run at the box office. Avengers: Endgame directors Joe and Anthony Russo celebrated after Cretton’s film overtook theirs for the highest domestic opening with $360 million. The brothers – who are currently working on Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars – marked the occasion with a sweet graphic as well, and it can be seen below:
There are so many adjectives that can be used to describe Spider-Man: Brand New Day’s success. I mean, there’s “amazing,” “spectacular” and “sensational,” just to name a few. After swinging past projections in its first weekend, the movie swung to $1 billion worldwide only six days after its release, and it eventually notched $2 billion after three weekends. Right now, this latest Marvel film sits at $2.45 billion worldwide, and I can’t help but wonder if it’ll move up another slot on the highest-grossing movie list before it’s all said and done.
Of course, at this point, questions remain in regard to what Sony, Marvel and Tom Holland want to do with the future of this franchise. It would seem foolish, on paper, not to make a fifth film with Holland in the lead. Sony’s Tom Rothman recently made a Super Bowl analogy while discussing the franchise’s future and essentially admitted he was unsure of what would happen. Something Holland has been adamant about, however, is having his Peter pass the baton to Miles Morales at some point.
Right now, though, I’m just locked in on the current Spidey film’s box office performance as well as the sweet gestures others have extended towards it. If the movie does hit any additional benchmarks before it leaves theaters, I wouldn’t be surprised if another studio or filmmaker released another celebratory graphic.
Anyone who somehow has yet to see Spider-Man: Brand New Day can swing over to a theater and check it out. Fans can also stream the first three films in the franchise using a Disney+ subscription.
