For Tom Rothman, ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ rewrote post-COVID box office math
Spider-Man: Brand New Day didn’t just rewrite the box office; it knocked down a CEO’s post-COVID cinema standards, with a very familiar name behind them.
With less than a million dollars separating it from the all-time domestic crown, Spider- Man: Brand New Day is on the verge of passing Star Wars: The Force Awakens for No. 1 in North America, according to Box Office Mojo. Speaking to Variety at the Resident Evil premiere during Austin’s Fantastic Fest, Sony Pictures chairman Tom Rothman said that finish line is now a matter of days.
“I know that in the next couple of days, at some point, it will become the highest grossing movie in the history of North America,”
Rothman also admitted the film outpaced even his own most optimistic projections for the post-pandemic box office.
“I didn't think post-COVID any movie could open over $300 million or any movie could do that after COVID and all that we went through. No, I would never have had the hubris to do that.”
Then Brand New Day blew past that line anyway: the film posted the biggest opening weekend of 2026 and kept building from there.
By the numbers
- Opening day (U.S.): $169.84 million
- Opening weekend (U.S.): $360.09 million — biggest of 2026 so far
- First week (U.S.): $510.09 million
- Current North America total: $935.86 million
- International total: $1.52 billion
- Worldwide total: roughly $2.45 billion
The movie’s domestic run hasn’t hit the elusive $1 billion line yet, and Rothman stopped short of promising that milestone. But he pointed to the reaction in theaters as the moment Sony realized the film had real legs, not just a monster launch.
Per Box Office Mojo, The Force Awakens stands at $936.66 million domestically. Brand New Day sits at $935.86 million — a gap of about $800,000 separating it from the all-time North American record.