By Dawn Chmielewski
LOS ANGELES, Aug 2 (Reuters) – “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” set an all-time record at U.S. and Canadian movie box offices over the weekend, snagging $360 million to top the milestone set by 2019 superhero blockbuster “Avengers: Endgame,” according to ticket sales data released by Sony Pictures on Monday.
Around the globe, the movie brought in a total of $932 million in ticket sales, the second highest-grossing total in cinema history.
On Sunday morning, Sony’s estimates suggested the new “Spider-Man” adventure would finish second domestically behind the Avengers movie, which opened with $357 million before adjusting for inflation. The day’s ticket sales came in higher than expected to lift “Spider-Man” to the top of all-time box office charts, without accounting for inflation.
The movie, which marks actor Tom Holland’s fourth appearance in a Spider-Man movie, depicts Peter Parker fighting crime in a world that has forgotten he is Spider-Man. Zendaya co-stars as MJ, the love of Parker’s life. Audiences returned for a film that was grounded in Parker’s struggles with loneliness and his pursuit of human connection.
“‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ is fundamentally a movie about friendship, about the balm of connection in all our lives, and that is resonant to audiences of all ages and all around the world,” Tom Rothman, chairman and chief executive of Sony Pictures Entertainment’s Motion Picture Group, said.
When adjusting for inflation, “Avengers: Endgame” still ranks as No. 1. The film brought in an inflation-adjusted $1.6 billion in global ticket sales over its opening weekend in 2019, including $467 million in the U.S. and Canada.
Spider-Man is one of the most popular of Marvel’s comic book characters, with a cinematic appeal that endures even as audiences have shown signs of fatigue with the superhero genre. The latest installment has been well-received, scoring a 90% rating from critics and 98% approval from moviegoers on Rotten Tomatoes.
Paul Dergarabedian, head of marketplace trends for Rentrak, said on Friday that the franchise is approaching the $10 billion mark in unadjusted worldwide theatrical box office, which speaks to the character’s appeal.
Greg Durkin, the founder and CEO of the entertainment research firm Enact Insight, said the movie’s central themes of loneliness and isolation, and triumphing over drama, resonated especially with Gen Z filmgoers.
“There’s a mental health crisis now with young people in our country — it’s especially acute for young men right now. There’s a friendship crisis,” Durkin said. “The pandemic created a bunch of shock-wave effects that we haven’t fully documented, much less addressed. This movie touches on some really important themes.”
The performance of “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” fuels an already-robust summer box office, which has been buoyed by such major releases as “Toy Story 5” and “The Odyssey.”
Dergarabedian said on Sunday that the combination of “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” with another hit, “The Odyssey,” created the “all-time biggest domestic weekend” in movie theaters.
“There’s no better lead-in to this movie than ‘The Odyssey,'” Dergarabedian said. “Think of how many people around the world were in movie theaters being exposed to trailers marketing for ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day.'”
Holland, Zendaya and Jon Bernthal appear in both movies.
The overall domestic box office performance remains below pre-pandemic levels. Year-to-date receipts are up 10% from last year, but 16% below 2019, the year before the pandemic struck, according to Rentrak.
(Reporting by Dawn Chmielewski in Los Angeles;Additional reporting by Lisa Richwine;Editing by Sergio Non, Will Dunham and Nick Zieminski)
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