It finally happened. Spider-Man: Brand New Day has become the highest-grossing film of all time at the North American box office, surpassing Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which had held the record for more than a decade. On Tuesday, September 16, the film’s domestic cumulative crossed $936.773 million after 47 days in theaters, edging past The Force Awakens’ previous record of $936.662 million, which had stood since 2015. Tom Holland’s Peter Parker is now at the top of the North American box office.
When Star Wars: The Force Awakens set its domestic record in 2015, it did so with the force of a galaxy behind it. The first Star Wars film in a decade arrived with generational nostalgia and a global fanbase. The $936 million figure it posted over its run was considered by many to be effectively unreachable. In the decade that followed, some films made significant runs at the record. Avengers: Endgame reached $858 million in 2019, while Spider-Man: No Way Home reached $814 million in 2021, but neither got close enough to truly threaten the record. Then Brand New Day opened on July 31.
The film’s domestic record-breaking run has been unlike anything the box office has seen before. It opened to $360 million in its first weekend, surpassing Avengers: Endgame for the biggest domestic opening weekend of all time. From there, it set the domestic record at every major milestone. It was the fastest film ever to reach $400 million domestically, doing so in just four days. It reached $700 million in 13 days, $800 million in 19 days and $900 million in 36 days. Only Avengers: Endgame was ever in the conversation as a comparable domestic run, and even Endgame, which opened with one of the most anticipated weekends in cinema history, could not reach $936 million. Brand New Day got there in 47 days. The Force Awakens took 165 days to reach the same number.
The moment the record fell, the official Star Wars account sent a message congratulating the film. “From a galaxy far, far away, everyone at Lucasfilm sends massive congratulations to Destin, Tom, everyone at Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios and the entire team behind Spider-Man: Brand New Day on setting a new domestic box office record and taking the crown.” The handover marked a notable moment between two of Hollywood’s biggest franchises.
Sony’s official response was equally direct: “Doesn’t get bigger than this. Thank you to the fans for helping Spider-Man: Brand New Day make cinematic history, it’s now the highest-grossing domestic release of ALL TIME at the North American box office.”
Globally, Brand New Day is currently ranked third, behind Avatar at $2.923 billion and Avengers: Endgame at $2.717 billion. Its worldwide total stands at approximately $2.45 billion, ahead of Avatar: The Way of Water at $2.3 billion in fourth place. The question now is whether Brand New Day can push past $1 billion domestically, which would make it the first film in history to reach that milestone. Based on where it is in its theatrical run, however, reaching $1 billion would likely require a re-release.
The Wrap described Brand New Day as the culmination of a decade of work by Sony, Marvel and, above all, Tom Holland, who took on one of cinema’s most famous superheroes and established his own interpretation of the character. The film arrived with a 90 percent Rotten Tomatoes score, while the mystery surrounding Sadie Sink’s Jean Grey casting and the emotional fallout from Peter Parker’s isolation following No Way Home added to audience interest. The film maintained strong weekday holds throughout its run and led the domestic box office for six consecutive weekends. August also became the biggest domestic box office month in history at $1.2 billion, with Brand New Day accounting for a significant portion of that total.
The current all-time domestic box office chart is:
- Spider-Man: Brand New Day — $936.773 million
- Star Wars: The Force Awakens — $936.662 million
- Avengers: Endgame — $858.373 million
- Spider-Man: No Way Home — $814.811 million
- Avatar — $785.221 million
Spider-Man: Brand New Day has now moved to the top of the North American domestic box office chart, ending The Force Awakens’ more than decade-long reign. Its final domestic total will determine how far beyond the record it ultimately finishes.
