'Spider-Man: Brand New Day' is now one of history's top three films

Spider-Man: Brand New Day has officially climbed into the top three highest grossing films of all time at the worldwide box office, overtaking James Cameron's Avatar: The Way of Water after another enormous weekend in cinemas.

The Sony and Marvel Studios blockbuster has passed the $2.33bn mark globally, putting it ahead of Avatar: The Way of Water, which finished its theatrical run with approximately $2.32bn worldwide. The milestone places Tom Holland's latest outing behind only Avatar and Avengers: Endgame on the all time worldwide chart.

The achievement marks another extraordinary stage in the theatrical run of Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which has remained at the top of the North American box office for five consecutive weekends. The film added approximately $22m in the United States and Canada during its fifth weekend, taking its domestic total to $891m.

That domestic figure also puts the film within striking distance of another major record. Star Wars: The Force Awakens currently holds the unadjusted domestic record with $936m, leaving Spider-Man: Brand New Day roughly $45m away from taking the top position in the United States and Canada.

The global rise has been remarkably fast. The film crossed $1bn worldwide after only six days in cinemas, becoming the second fastest film ever to reach that figure behind Avengers: Endgame. It then crossed $2bn after only three weekends, becoming the eighth film in history to achieve that milestone.

Its opening had already established Spider-Man: Brand New Day as a historic theatrical release. The film opened to approximately $360m in the United States and Canada, surpassing the $357m debut of Avengers: Endgame to claim the biggest domestic opening weekend ever. Its worldwide opening reached approximately $932m, giving it the second biggest global debut in box office history.

The performance has also helped drive an unusually strong August for American cinemas. TheWrap reported that Spider-Man: Brand New Day accounted for approximately 62% of all domestic box office revenue during August through August 23, contributing $685m to the month's total at that point. Overall domestic grosses for August had already reached a record $1.1bn.

The film's success has further strengthened Tom Holland's position as one of the biggest current theatrical stars. His previous solo Marvel appearance, Spider-Man: No Way Home, opened to $260m domestically in December 2021 and ultimately became another major global hit.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is now operating in an extremely rare group of blockbusters. Only Avatar, Avengers: Endgame and the newly surpassed Avatar: The Way of Water had previously occupied the top three positions in the worldwide box office rankings in the modern unadjusted chart.

The film still has room to climb. Its domestic total remains within reach of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, while its worldwide performance could determine how close it ultimately gets to the $2.7bn earned by Avengers: Endgame and the $2.9bn collected by Avatar.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day premiered at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, on July 27, 2026, and was released in the United States on July 31 as part of Phase Six of the MCU. It received largely positive reviews from critics, with praise for Holland's performance, the action sequences, and the more mature, character-driven story compared to the previous MCU Spider-Man films. The film has grossed $2.333 billion worldwide and set multiple box office records. It became the highest-grossing Spider-Man film, the highest-grossing film of 2026, and the fourth-highest grossing film of all time.

Principal photography began on August 3, 2025, in Glasgow under the working title Blue Oasis, with Brett Pawlak returning as cinematographer from many of Cretton's previous films. The film was shot in two aspect ratios, 2.39:1 for wide screens and 1.90:1 for digital IMAX. Holland was inspired by director Christopher Nolan's efficient approach on The Odyssey and wanted to bring a similar work ethic to Brand New Day, insisting that they have each day's filming planned ahead of time, and that practical stunts be performed when possible. Peng Zhang coordinated the fight sequences, returning from Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Some stunts were inspired by the Marvel's Spider-Man video game series, including its finishing moves. The production team analyzed footage of wingsuit flyers and parkour athletes for the scenes where Spider-Man swings on his webs. For the fight between Parker and the Hand, when the latter are under Jean's control, Zhang choreographed the ninjas in a bird wing-inspired formation.