Superhero fatigue might be real, but Spider-man fatigue is not real.

The heavily anticipated Spider-Man: Brand New Day made its way to theaters, and to say it had incredible results would be selling it short. It destroyed every possible forecast, and broke so many records. But the most important: biggest ever opening weekend domestically. It also didn't disappoint in its overseas debut, posting the second biggest debut in history.

Thanks to the arachnid hero and the strong hold for The Odyssey, the weekend went straight to the history books. The Top 10 posted an incredible $434.6 million. Not only a massive 267.2% above last year, but also the biggest weekend in history. All combined titles earned $436.5 million, which is higher than the prior record, the weekend where Endgame debuted*** ($402 million across all films).

Because we're in August, let's take a look at the domestic box office this year. It's currently at $6.128 billion, which is up across every single year since 2020 through the same point. Could this be the first post-pandemic year to reach $10 billion? Odds are on its favor!

Easily taking the top spot, Spider-Man: Brand New Day debuted with an extraordinary $360 million in 4,487 theaters. There's a lot of records to mention, so let's focus on some important ones.

The most obvious, it broke Avengers: Endgame's record ($357.1 million) for the biggest opening weekend in history. Its $80,252 per-theater average is also a record for a wide release, beating Endgame ($76,601). Biggest ever debut for a July and summer release, overtaking Deadpool & Wolverine ($211.4 million). Biggest ever debut for a Spider-Man film and for a Sony release, surpassing No Way Home ($260.1 million). And biggest ever for a Marvel title, a superhero film, a 3D film, and a PG-13 rated film.

The records were already seen since Friday, when the film posted a strong $72 million in previews, far above Endgame ($60 million). Its opening day gross of $168 million broke Endgame's records ($157.5 million) for the highest opening day and single-day grosses of all-time. The only records it couldn't break were biggest Saturday (below Endgame's $109.2 million) and Sunday (below Endgame's $90.3 million).

There's no other way to describe these numbers as anything but spectacular. Getting a film to open this high requires so many things to work well. So… how?

The character of Spider-Man has remained massively popular. Many heroes are hit by superhero fatigue, even heavy hitters. But Spider-Man has managed to avoid that, because people are just too in love with the character. The only time it really came close to a bad performance was The Amazing Spider-Man 2 closing with just $202 million, but Sony was smart in retooling the franchise and integrating it in the MCU. It shouldn't come as a surprise that the character broke the opening record, given that Spider-Man ($114.8 million) and Spider-Man 3 ($151.1 million) also broke it back then.

One of the things that really helped Tom Holland's run is that each installment was positively received, building more momentum with each passing entry. Homecoming got to $334 million domestically, Far from Home was the highest-grossnig with $391 million, and No Way Home destroyed everything in its path with an astounding $814 million.

But that still doesn't answer the question: No Way Home was boosted by nostalgia (it brought back Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield along with their villains) and it was already high enough to begin with, so how could Brand New Day open an absurd $100 million above it?

Well, despite the lack of multiverse shenanigans, No Way Home ended on a very interesting note that would build over as the main premise of Brand New Day: Peter Parker was erased from every single memory, and he would now be primarily known solely as Spider-Man. That's a very interesting hook, and having it street-level focused surely helped in offering something fresh.

Even without the nostalgia angle, the film still brought some important parts of the MCU. That included Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner, one of the key players in the MCU. But it also had Jon Bernthal reprise his role as Frank Castle/The Punisher from the Netflix series, and not just as a small role, but as an important character within the story. While there were concerns on how the violent and brooding character could be integrated in the kid-friendly film, you gotta leave it up to the crew for making it work.

Yes, there's also the elephant in the room. Sadie Sink was one of the biggest focus of the film, even when Sony and Marvel kept her character's identity a secret. One of the world's worst kept secrets? You know there was also curiosity surrounding how that element would be introduced, not just in the film, but also in the wider MCU scale. Destin Daniel Cretton might also not be a well-known filmmaker, but he struck gold with Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, one of the best-received MCU titles of the past years. With a sequel still stuck in development phase, he pivoted to this sequel, building questions on how he would deliver the action sequences. All of these aspects helped raise curiosity and intrigue among audiences.

Sony mounted a very extensive marketing campaign, obviously selling it as a big event across the world. It was impossible to not find the trailer playing or seeing Tom Holland and the cast in red carpets or interviews. That means they did an excellent job. The great reviews (90% on RT) were the cherry on top.

According to Sony, 61% of the audience was male, and 51% was 25 and under. Its biggest demographic was 18-24 at 36%. When given reasons for buying a ticket, 58% of the audience said that it was part of a franchise they love, 47% said it looked fun and entertaining, 41% went for the cast as a whole, 39% went for Holland (which might be a record for an actor in a comic book title?) and 29% went for Zendaya.

Audiences gave Brand New Day a strong "A" on CinemaScore. Similar to Homecoming and Far from Home, but below No Way Home (A+). The thing about opening high is that it makes it difficult to predict the legs. Endgame opened with $357 million and dropped 58.7% on its second weekend, but some like Black Panther (44.7%) and The Force Awakens (39.8%) had lighter drops, although the latter had the benefit of holiday legs.

It's hard to determine where Brand New Day will finish. But with a fairly weak August, and a now-announced IMAX release on its second weekend, it should post some very healthy numbers. Sony views this as the beginning of a new trilogy, and it all points to a very lucrative path. And for the MCU, it shows there's still so much life in the superhero genre. They're gonna try to replicate similar success this December, when Avengers: Doomsday storms into theaters.

And we aren't even talking about the overseas numbers!

After its strong numbers from last week, it was inevitable that The Odyssey would drop to second place. Given it was in the face of a juggernaut, there were many questions on how much it would drop. Because even if they share different audiences, a $360 million opener is still heavy competition. Well, leave it up to Christopher Nolan to continue beating the odds.

On its third weekend, The Odyssey posted a great $51 million. That's down a pretty good 43%, which is incredible considering the loss of other PLF screens (The Odyssey still has IMAX exclusivity). It was the second best third weekend for an R-rated title, behind Deadpool & Wolverine ($53.7 million). But we should look at more comparisons.

If we look at the Top 10 biggest debuts domestically and what was in second place, it was stronger than Twisters ($34.9 million, behind Deadpool & Wolverine), Peter Rabbit ($17.5 million, behind Black Panther), Spy ($15.6 million, behind Jurassic World), Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip ($14.2 million, behind The Force Awakens), Ferdinand ($13.4 million, behind The Last Jedi), A Quiet Place ($11 million, behind Infinity War), Captain Marvel ($8.3 million, behind Endgame), Think Like a Man ($8.1 million, behind The Avengers), and Encanto ($6.4 million, behind No Way Home). This means that word of mouth is insanely strong and will continue checking out the film.

Through 17 days, The Odyssey has earned an incredible $395.5 million domestically, which is already three times its opening weekend. It already beat the lifetime gross of Inception ($292 million) and Oppenheimer ($330 million) to become Nolan's third highest grossing film, and it's going to pass The Dark Knight Rises ($448.1 million) in the next few days to move to second place. In more great news, it also passed The Passion of the Christ ($370 million) to become the second highest-grossing R-rated film, just behind Deadpool & Wolverine ($636 million).

Now that its biggest competition is out of the way, it should continue enjoying incredible legs. It has to share IMAX screens on its fourth weekend with Spider-Man, but it will keep 70MM exclusivity all the way to September. The Odyssey will easily get to over $550 million domestically, which means it will pass The Dark Knight ($534 million) to become Nolan's highest grossing film. And $600 million is becoming a real possibility. Beyond that, it's a matter of sitting and witnessing.

The best drop in the Top 10 belonged to Toy Story 5, which moved up a spot to third place. It eased just 33%, adding $6.7 million. The film has earned $462.1 million domestically.

In fourth place, Universal/Illumination's Minions & Monsters grossed $6 million, off just 38% from last week. The film's domestic total stands at $168.5 million.

Moana continues dropping. This time, it fell 47%, making $5.6 million this weekend. As you can see, it's already losing to Toy Story 5 and Minions & Monsters despite being more recent. The film has amassed $115 million, and it's set to tap out with around $130 million domestically.

After its strong debut last week, Bleecker Street decided to extend Hadestown: The Musical's run in theaters. Nevertheless, it collapsed a brutal 80%, earning $2 million this weekend. But given how front-loaded these titles are and how the "five nights only" was emphasized, it's unsurprising to see it drop this much. Through 10 days, it has amassed $18.2 million, which is more than any other live theater capture.

A24's The Invite lost 1,240 theaters this weekend. As such, it dropped 53%, earning $1.2 million this weekend. The film has now earned $22.7 million domestically.

Evil Dead Burn fizzled out another 73%, making just $750,761. With just $31.5 million, it doesn't have much left in the tank.

One film was brave enough to open alongside Spidey, and that was Gregg Araki's I Want Your Sex. Magnolia released the film in 700 theaters, and posted a weak $634,877 this weekend. Don't expect this to hang around.

Rounding out the Top 10 was Angel Studios' Young Washington, which collapsed a poor 73% for a $505,563 weekend. The film has now made $46.4 million.

Well, it had to happen eventually. Obsession has finally left the Top 10 and it took Spider-Man to accomplish it. It dropped 67%, its largest drop yet, earning $503,305. The phenomenon has amassed an insane $262.8 million domestically.

OVERSEAS

Here's to more amazing numbers.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day opened with a gigantic $581.7 million overseas, for a spectacular $941.7 million worldwide launch. That's the second biggest worldwide debut in history, behind Endgame ($1.223 billion). While Spidey got the domestic crown, the Avengers got the upper lead in the overseas markets ($866.5 million overseas).

The biggest debuts came in China ($121M), the UK ($49M), Mexico ($38.3M), India ($31.8M), France ($26.6M), South Korea ($25M), Brazil ($23.8M), Australia ($21.4M), Germany ($20M), Italy ($18.2M), Spain ($15.6M), Argentina ($10.5M), Japan ($10M), Philippines ($9.3M), Peru ($8.6M), Colombia ($6.8M), UAE ($6.8M), Saudi Arabia ($5.4M), Chile ($5M), Netherlands ($4.7M), Turkey ($4.7M), Ecuador ($4.1M), and Belgium ($4M). In at least half of the markets, it broke the opening weekend record.

The film earned $31 million in 4DX/ScreenX PLFs, which is a new record. Like in North America, the film didn't play in IMAX screens due to The Odyssey's exclusivity, except for China, Japan and South Korea, where that film hasn't opened yet. The combined IMAX in those markets was $23 million.

There are no new major markets left to add, so there's now the question of how high it can go. Getting to $2 billion worldwide, however, should be guaranteed even with bad legs. Which means it'll become the highest-grossing Spidey film, as well as Sony's biggest ever release.

Hell, it can reach the $1 billion milestone as early as today. A huge win in practically every aspect.

The Odyssey held its own against Brand New Day. It added $85.2 million overseas, for an incredible $912.3 million worldwide run. That's down just 38% in the overseas markets, despite not adding major markets. It means the film managed to hold incredibly well in pretty much every market. With this, Universal became the first studio to hit $4 billion worldwide this year.

The biggest markets for the film are the UK ($67.4M), France ($45.6M), Italy ($42.5M), Germany ($31.5M), Australia ($27.7M), Mexico ($25.8M), Spain ($23.8M), Brazil ($15.5M), Netherlands ($12.4M), and Saudi Arabia ($11.5M). In most of these markets, it's already Nolan's highest-grossing film.

On the IMAX front, The Odyssey added $44.7 million worldwide for a monumental $221 million, making it the third biggest IMAX gross in history, behind Avatar: The Way of Water ($259 million) and Avatar ($270 million). Yes, after 17 years, Avatar is finally going down. It's already the highest grossing IMAX film of all time in 24 markets including Mexico, Italy, Belgium, Turkey, UAE, India, Saudi Arabia and Thailand. 70MM IMAX added $5.1 million, for a $27.6 million lifetime.

Now that it survived Spidey, The Odyssey can continue its great legs around the world. By next week, it will hit the $1 billion milestone, becoming Nolan's third film to crack it. It's also passing The Dark Knight Rises ($1.085 billion) to become Nolan's highest-grossing film. And now there's another guarantee: it's going to pass Deadpool & Wolverine ($1.338 billion) to become the biggest R-rated film ever. And given its pacing and how China, South Korea and Japan are still left to open, it looks like reaching $1.5 billion is becoming a possibility.

Toy Story 5 added $14.5 million overseas, taking its worldwide total to $1.067 billion. It's $6 million away from overtaking Toy Story 4 as the highest-grossing film in the franchise.

Minions & Monsters added $11.7 million overseas, for a $449.3 million worldwide run.

Moana added $10.6 million, taking its worldwide total to a weak $261.7 million.

Obsession added $7.6 million overseas, taking its worldwide total to an incredible $474.8 million worldwide. In China, the film earned $4.7 million on its second weekend, which was off just 5% from last week. Given the over-performing numbers and given that it still has South Korea left, it looks like the film could get all the way to $500 million. A figure no one thought was possible so many months ago.

FILMS THAT ENDED THEIR RUN THIS WEEK

• The laughs were missing, but not the dollar signs. Paramount's Scary Movie has closed with a pretty great $108.2 million domestically and $231.2 million worldwide. That makes it the franchise's second highest film, behind the original ($278 million). Notably, it was stronger overseas ($123 million), which means comedies can actually travel outside the world. The film opened high, but sadly it quickly sank thanks to poor reviews and word of mouth. We'll be left thinking how high it could've gone if everyone involved tried to make a better product, but at the end of the day, a win is a win. Expect a new Scary Movie announcement pretty soon. And like the Wayans said, White Chicks 2 would be a go if this succeeded. For better or worse.
• Does he have the power? I don't think so. Amazon MGM's Masters of the Universe closed with a pathetic $64.8 million domestically and $113.7 million worldwide, well below its $200 million budget. Even though Amazon doesn't operate like other studios, these numbers are insanely terrible given the extensive marketing they mounted. For all the talk on how good word of mouth would save it, the audience reception was mediocre ("B" on CinemaScore) and it collapsed very quickly, finishing with a poor 2.20x multiplier. While comparisons to Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves were brought up, that film still performed much better and had stronger reception. Even if the plan is to get eyeballs on Amazon, it's gonna have to do insane numbers just to avoid complete embarrassment. It's going to be hard for any other film this year to flop harder than this; even Supergirl grossed more money and cost a bit less. Don't expect to see He-Man in the big screen, unless the budget is maybe $5 million.
• It was the last, but best is debatable. Paramount's Jackass: Best and Last has closed with a very poor $18.2 million domestically and $27.3 million worldwide. Even though it cost a cheap $10 million to produce, the film performed far worse than any installment in the franchise. Hell, the domestic total is below the first film's opening weekend ($22.7 million). Seems like the popularity of Jackass peaked with the third installment, and the "finale factor" was already used by Jackass Forever. But the nail in the coffin was that it was half clip show/half new content, which killed so much buzz and interest. Anyways, it was a very iconic and profitable franchise, so it's time to say goodbye.

THIS WEEKEND

With Spider-Man set for another big weekend, nothing else stands a chance in topping it.

Universal is releasing the rom-com One Night Only, starring Monica Barbaro and Callum Turner, following two strangers who try to find love on the one night of the year when pre-marital sex is legal. Will Gluck has had a lot of luck at the box office, and it's coming off the massive success of Anyone but You. As the only big rom-com option in theaters, could it surprise?

Searchlight is also releasing Super Troopers 3, 8 years after the prior film. Broken Lizard is back, and it follows Farva's wildly over-the-top Indian engagement to Thorny's sister. The films have their fans, which is what made the sequel possible through crowd-funding. But there's a ceiling to the franchise, and given how front-loaded the sequel was, a similar fate could await here.

MUBI is also releasing Jane Schoenbrun's new film Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, starring Hannah Einbinder and Gillian Anderson. The film follows a filmmaker who is hired to direct a new installment of the slasher franchise Camp Miasma, and eventually becomes fixated on casting the actress who played the final girl in the original film. The film earned strong reception since its Cannes debut (99% on RT, 88 on Metacritic), so the hope is that the film can break out, compared to other MUBI titles.

In limited release, A24 is launching Matt Johnson's Tony, starring Dominic Sessa as the iconic Anthony Bourdain. The film has built strong reviews (98% on RT and 71 on Metacritic), so look for this to get one of the year's best per-theater averages. It's set to hit wide release on August 21.

STREAMING DATA

Figures for the week of July 20 to July 26 on Netflix:

The new comedy 72 Hours debuted with a pretty solid 22.1 million views. Not quite as high as Kevin Hart's other comedies, but something worth mentioning.

A Toxic Love Story debuted in second place with a notable 18 million views. Beyond that, the following five titles were all in foreign language, which is impressive.

Voicemails for Isabelle added 4.6 million views, taking its lifetime to 80.7 million views.

Swapped added 3.4 million views. As such, it managed to make its way to the ninth spot on the Most Popular Movies of All Time, with 143.2 million views. Next week, it should pass Leave the World Behind (143.4 million) to become the eighth biggest film in the chart.

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