How Spider-Man Can Save Marvel At The Box Office
Spider-Man swings in to save the day, again, when Marvel Studios needs its friendly neighborhood superhero most. Marvel dented its reputation as a box-office juggernaut after several of the franchise's films — remember The Marvels — fell well short of expectations.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day, the latest movie in the long-running Marvel series, is breaking box-office records after a colossal opening: highest-earning previews with $72 million, record earnings for a Friday release at the box office, highest-opening debut weekend and fastest film of 2026 to earn $1 billion worldwide.
If public interest in superhero movies is indeed waning, Forbes contributor Sophia Morano writes, "Spider-Man is still a long way away from overstaying his welcome – if he ever will.” And Spidey's success could renew the momentum for other Marvel movies, including the highly anticipated Avengers: Doomsday in December.
The latest Tom Holland-led Spider-Man played on premium screens around the world, including ScreenX and 4DX formats, which earned a record $31 million worldwide on opening weekend. But IMAX screens – including all 41 locations with the IMAX 70mm format – were occupied by Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey. In fact, Nolan’s take on Homer's epic boosted shares of IMAX stock to an all-time high as moviegoers further embrace premium formats.
“IMAX is taking a disproportionately large share of theatrical spending relative to the number of screens it operates, while expanding its footprint and attracting movies marketed specifically around the format,” Forbes contributor David Deal writes. “Its share of domestic box office has reached about 5.2%, compared with roughly 3.2% before the pandemic, despite IMAX representing only a small fraction of movie screens.”
IMAX's success earned The Odyssey a monthlong extension after weeks of sold-out shows. But now it's Spider-Man's turn to get the full premium treatment.
Director Destin Daniel Cretton shot Brand New Day with IMAX viewing in mind, and the film will share IMAX screens with The Odyssey in the U.S. starting Thursday.
Brand New Day’s initial success persuaded IMAX to "make room," Forbes contributor Maureen Kerr writes. “The opening showed both the size of the audience and the shortage of screens available to serve it," she says. "The record belongs to Spider-Man. The limit belongs to the screens.”
In China, Japan and South Korea, where Spider-Man was available on more IMAX screens, the box office jumped. The premium format “generated 16% of the film’s opening gross in China and 18% in Japan,” Kerr says. “In South Korea, the film took $2.4 million in IMAX, the biggest IMAX opening weekend that market has recorded.”
Forbes contributor Mark Hughes foresees Spider-Man: Brand New Day leaping past $1.5 billion total in its second weekend, in part due to IMAX (which is filling seats in 2026). The Odyssey opened with $81.4 million globally in IMAX; Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day made about half of its more than $90 million opening box office from premium formats.
First introduced by Stan Lee in a 1962 comic book, “Spider-Man is a hero rooted in nostalgia and, by design, is one that fans can relate to,” Morano says. And the character is accustomed to success.
On screen, Tobey Maguire’s turn as the web-slinger earned almost $2.5 billion across three films from 2002 to 2007. Andrew Garfield donned the Spidey suit in two of his own movies, one in 2012 and another in 2014. Each of Garfield's movies made more than $700 million worldwide. Holland's installments in the series have accrued over $4 billion across four major releases, including Spider-Man: No Way Home, which featured Maguire and Garfield and earned nearly $2 billion at the box office.
The new Spider-Man has further attracted audiences with its supporting cast, including Zendaya (2026’s highest-grossing actor, so far) and Sadie Sink, who, after months of speculation, indeed plays Jean Grey. Their collective appeal brought in over $300 million of promotional campaigns, including deals with Samsung, Liquid I.V., Little Caesars, BMW and more.
In an era where reboots and remakes aren’t always reliable — see the recent live-action Moana — how does Spider-Man keep going? Part of the character's appeal may be his mutability, his relatability and audiences' openness to Spidey's reinvention.
“Through each reboot, Spider-Man has proved himself to be a character with the rare ability to continually refresh himself without losing his central identity,” Morano writes.
“Unlike many superheroes, his greatest challenges often have nothing to do with defeating villains. They are the ordinary frustrations of everyday life," Deal writes on Forbes. That's a big reason why Spider-Man “can anchor a coming-of-age story, a romance, a comedy, an animated adventure or a multiverse epic without losing his identity.”
Superhero fatigue plagued the box office post-pandemic. “Every major superhero studio has taken a hit over the past three years," Morano says. "DC struggled to launch new hero franchises with The Flash and Blue Beetle, and Sony’s Madame Web and Kraven the Hunter failed to build enthusiasm."
Will Brand New Day offer a boost to Avengers: Doomsday before it arrives in theaters later this year, or does Spider-Man's success raise the bar for every successive Marvel gambit?
Not all Marvel films meet the studio's lofty box-office expectations.
Doomsday will not have total access to IMAX screens when it comes out. Dune 3 won those screens, but Marvel will introduce Infinity Vision to make up for the loss of viewing options as premium large formats rise.
Spider-Man proved that Marvel may not need IMAX, but the success of Avengers: Doomsday will signal if Marvel has any more reliably bankable heroes. Regardless, we can keep counting on Spider-Man to save the day.