Up until Titanic released in theatres in 1997, $1 billion was considered unattainable for films at the box office. The James Cameron film surpassed that mark and went one step further, grossing over $2 billion. But times surely have changed. Spider-Man: Brand New Day, released just this weekend, has already crossed the $1 billion mark. And even though it hasn’t even completed its first week in theatres, it is still not the fastest film to the mark.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day is a billion-dollar hit
Spider-Man: Brand New Day took the biggest start at the North American box office in history, minting $360 million in its first three days in the US and Canada. Overseas, the film made $572 million during this period. In several overseas markets, the film released early. For instance, it released in Belgium on Wednesday and in India on Thursday. This staggered release meant that its opening weekend stretched over five days worldwide. On its sixth day – Monday – Brand New Day added $47 million in North America and $73 million overseas, taking its worldwide gross to $1.053 billion.
Brand New Day loses to Avengers: Endgame
Reaching the billion-dollar mark in six days is no joke. Only one film in history has done it faster, and that needed all the Avengers and Thanos to pull this off. In 2019, Avengers: Endgame minted over $1.2 billion in its opening weekend. A staggered release, like Brand New Day, meant that the weekend was spread over five days, one day quicker than Brand New Day’s pace. Just how far ahead these two films are can be gauged by the fact that the next two films in the list – Avengers: Infinity War and Ne Zha 2 – took 11 and 12 days, respectively, to reach $1 billion. Titanic, the first film to reach $1 billion, took 74 days to do so in 1997.
All about the film
Part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Brand New Day stars Tom Holland as Spider-Man, aka Peter Parker, and also brings back Zendaya as MJ and Jacob Batalon as Ned. The film sees Peter Parker living entirely on his own as Spider-Man in a world that doesn’t remember him. Amid the mounting pressure of seeing his old friends move on without him, Spider-Man comes across new dangers with the entrance of villains. Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, the film also stars Sadie Sink, Mark Ruffalo, and Jon Bernthal in pivotal roles.