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When Avengers: Endgame opened to $357 million domestically in 2019, it set a record that seemed likely to last for years. The movie had more than a decade of MCU storytelling behind it, brought together nearly every major Marvel hero and became one of the biggest theatrical events in recent memory. Even Kevin Feige did not expect a new Marvel release to surpass it anytime soon. However, that recently came to pass.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day broke Endgame’s record this past weekend and, afterwards Feige spoke with Variety about the milestone. During the chat, the Marvel Studios president admitted he was surprised. Feige pointed to the pandemic and the difficult years that followed for movie theaters as major reasons he thought Endgame’s opening weekend might remain untouched. He explained:
I didn’t, for all the reasons I don’t think anyone did, because of COVID, because of the beating that theatrical took for so long. But once the bar had been raised, it could be raised again, right? The first movie to ever cross $100 million over opening weekend was Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man. The first to cross $150 million in one weekend was Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 3. The first to $200 million was the first Avengers. And then, of course, the first to $300 million was Endgame.
Spider-Man’s latest box office win is especially fitting given the history of the character’s appearance at the cinema. Sam Raimi’s first movie helped change expectations for the openings of new superhero films so, it’s somewhat poetic that Tom Holland’s fourth solo film now holds the domestic record.
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The 2026 movie calendar release earned $360 million in the United States and Canada during its opening weekend, narrowly passing Endgame’s $357 million debut. However, Endgame still holds the larger worldwide opening and overall theatrical totals. Feige said Marvel always believed ticket sales could eventually rise again, but the industry’s uneven recovery made that harder to picture over the past several years:
We did think that things could increase, but the past five or six years didn’t necessarily feel like that was the case. That’s a long-winded way of saying I did not expect Endgame’s record to be beat, but I couldn’t be happier that it was beat this past weekend by our 38th MCU movie.
The victory comes at a useful moment for Marvel. The studio has spent years hearing that superhero fatigue finally arrived, while several recent releases failed to approach the heights of the Infinity Saga. Now, Brand New Day has crossed $1 billion worldwide in six days and become the second-fastest movie ever to reach that milestone, trailing only Endgame.
The Webhead’s big box office week does not erase every concern surrounding the MCU, but it proves audiences will still sprint to theaters when a Marvel movie feels like an event. Feige may not have expected Spider-Man to topple Endgame’s opening record, but Peter Parker has made a career out of exceeding expectations.
The next Marvel movie on the schedule is Avengers: Doomsday, which is clearly trying to recapture some of the ensemble magic that made Endgame such a huge event. Maybe the next Avengers film will be the one to knock Spider-Man out of the top spot. Still, after seeing what Brand New Day just pulled off, I would not count on it.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day is now playing in theaters, so check your local listings for showtimes. Avengers: Doomsday arrives on Dec. 18, so fans will then be able to find out whether it can challenge Spidey’s new box office record. Audiences can also revisit all the Marvel movies streaming with a Disney+ subscription.