Spider-Man: Brand New Day earns $43M on second Friday

“Spider-Man: Brand New Day” kept its momentum as it entered its second weekend, banking $43 million at the North American box office on Friday alone. The Marvel-Sony release is on track to finish the weekend with roughly $143 million in U.S. ticket sales, according to early industry projections. That haul represents a steep 60% drop from its record-breaking debut of $360 million last weekend, yet still positions the film as the biggest second-weekend grosser of the year by a wide margin.

The sharp decline is normal for a superhero tentpole, but this one is more pronounced than usual because the movie opened during a rare mid-May window that’s usually quiet. Studios crowded the calendar to avoid competition, and “Brand New Day” benefited from pent-up demand after two lean years of pandemic-era releases. Its first-weekend haul also benefited from strong word-of-mouth and a massive global rollout that pushed its worldwide total past $700 million in five days.

The sequel’s performance matters because it proves Marvel’s brand can survive a change in lead actors and creative teams. Sony moved fast to recast after the previous Spider-Man actor stepped back, and the studio’s gamble looks set to pay off: domestic ticket sales alone are already approaching half a billion dollars. The film’s staying power could also ease concerns among theater chains that audiences won’t return for big franchise films after years of streaming dominance.

Next up, the movie faces a crowded field that includes “Furiosa,” which opens the same weekend in more than 4,000 locations. If “Brand New Day” holds on to roughly 30% of its audience, it could cross the billion-dollar mark globally by late June. That would cement its place as the defining blockbuster of 2024 and give Sony leverage for the next round of Spider-Man negotiations.