We are currently right in the middle of our Tom Holland summer, following the release of The Odyssey on the 2026 movie calendar, with Spider-Man: Brand New Day’s theatrical debut just days away. Holland’s been a busy man, doing press for both films, and while he may have Zendaya to keep him from dropping Spidey spoilers, nobody was there to save him when he got candid (possibly too candid) about some of his past movies not being very good.
Tom Holland is donning the Spider-Man suit for his seventh MCU movie (eight if you count the mid-credit scene of Venom: Let There Be Carnage), with his appearances overlapping with the work he’s doing for Christopher Nolan’s adaptation of Homer’s epic The Odyssey. it’s seemingly an embarrassment of riches for the actor — and possibly exhausting. Holland visited the Dish podcast, where he was asked how he was handling such a busy time. He said:
To be honest, I'm absolutely loving it. I think when you're doing press for movies that you're really proud of, it's really easy. Because, when they ask you questions about why should people go and watch this movie, you're not lying to anyone. You really feel like people should go and see it. You know, I've had experiences before when people say like, ‘Why should you see this movie?’ And in the back of your mind you're like, ‘You shouldn't, ‘cause it's shit.’
My jaw is on the ground. I’m not sure you’re supposed to be that honest! However, Tom Holland is known for having loose lips — he’s been spoiling Marvel secrets for years, after all. (Someone’s even put together a handy compilation of all of his spoilers.)
Of course, here he didn’t reveal any secrets here, as much as he said the quiet part out loud — and thankfully for him (not so much for us), he didn’t actually name any of the movies he thought were crap.
Tom Holland’s career hasn’t been all Marvel and Christopher Nolan. He’s had some critical stinkers, as pretty much every actor does. The 2018 dystopian sci-fi Chaos Walking got negative reviews, with critics saying there was no need for audiences to rush to theaters for the “jumbled” and “muddled” movie.
His lowest-rated film on Rotten Tomatoes is Dolittle, in which the actor voiced Jip, the titular doctor’s dog. That one holds a brutal 15% critics rating. The 2021 crime drama Cherry also failed to connect with critics, whose combined scores gave it a 37% rating.
We have no idea which film or films the actor had in mind when making the comment, but I’m still just in shock that Tom Holland fully admitted to lying on previous press tours!
Either way, it’s nice to know that while this is a busy time, Tom Holland is enjoying the chance to promote both The Odyssey, which has dominated the box office for the past two weeks, and Spider-Man: Brand New Day, with the upcoming Marvel movie projected to earn hundreds of millions of dollars on opening weekend. Be sure to reserve your seat when it hits the big screen Friday, July 31.
