‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ shatters China’s superhero box office record on opening day

Spider-Man: Brand New Day opened in cinemas on Wednesday to historic box office numbers, delivering China's biggest superhero opening day in seven years and shattering advance booking records in India as the Tom Holland-led film tracks toward one of the largest global debuts in cinema history.

China Explodes Past Forecasts

The film opened in China two days ahead of its North American release on July 31 and earned a projected $37.4 million on its first day, according to The Hollywood Reporter, with Chinese ticketing platform Maoyan providing the estimate. That figure puts it level with the $36 million opening day of 2019's Spider-Man: Far From Home and roughly quadruples the best post-pandemic superhero opening day — the $9.4 million logged by Venom: The Last Dance.cosmicbook+1

Deadline had projected $45 million from China for the entire opening weekend; day one nearly matched that alone. Maoyan now pegs the film's total China run at $255 million, with rival tracker Dengta projecting above $265 million — either figure would represent Hollywood's biggest China gross since Avengers: Endgame in 2019.cosmicbook

The explosive demand follows years of pent-up appetite. Spider-Man: No Way Home never played in China, and the market saw a regulatory freeze on Marvel titles from mid-2019 into early 2023. Presales in China finished at $18.6 million, the best for any imported film in three summers.cosmicbook

India Rewrites the Record Books

In India, Brand New Day has surpassed Avengers: Endgame's long-standing pre-sales record with approximately ₹85 crore in advance ticket sales for opening weekend, putting it on course to become the first Hollywood release in the country to reach ₹100 crore in pre-sales. Industry projections suggest the film will deliver the biggest opening day and weekend ever for a non-Indian title.sacnilk+1

Globally, Deadline projected a $425 million-plus opening weekend — Sony's second-biggest ever — though multiple tracking services now suggest that figure could land considerably higher given China's overperformance.deadline+1

Critical Acclaim With Caveats

Brand New Day holds a 90 percent Certified Fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes from 143 reviews. Critics have praised Holland's more mature portrayal of Peter Parker and highlighted Sadie Sink as a breakout, with New Rockstars' Erik Voss calling her "devastating in her role". The Independent's Clarisse Loughrey awarded four stars and called it "flat out the best Spider-Man film since Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 2".radiotimes+1

Not all reviews were unreserved. Several critics flagged the two-hour-and-25-minute runtime and an overstuffed final act, while the BBC's review argued Holland's Peter Parker "may be running out of web" if the franchise doesn't allow the character to evolve.bbc+1

North American previews begin Thursday ahead of the wide release on July 31, with Variety reporting that major chains are scheduling showtimes every 15 minutes through the weekend.variety