Spider-Man: Brand New Day is on track for a massive opening, but one hurdle could change everything

Spider-Man's back – and if the early numbers are to be believed, the box office is set for another thumping weekend. 'Brand New Day' is Tom Holland's latest swing as Spider-Man in the MCU, and apparently, everyone's expecting it to kill, cash-wise, even with one obvious handicap.

Swinging Without IMAX: What's Going On?

Here's the odd bit: 'Brand New Day' won't be getting an IMAX release. Not that Spider-Man's short on action sequences that look good on a massive screen, but those IMAX screens have already been snapped up by Christopher Nolan for his own big, brainy epic, 'The Odyssey'. Nolan's got a four-week exclusive with IMAX, so Sony and Marvel are stuck showing Spidey’s latest outing on every other format apart from the biggest one.

Normally, you'd expect this sort of situation to knock a chunk off the opening weekend. But according to the bean-counters at Deadline, the projections are still massive: we’re talking $180 million to $190 million (just domestically, mind), all in that very first weekend.

How Does That Stack Up?

• If that forecast holds, 'Brand New Day' will notch up the biggest domestic opening of 2026. Yes, even without IMAX.
• Among Tom Holland's Spider-Man films, only 'No Way Home' (2021) opened bigger – that one did over $260 million in North America in just its first three days, which is frankly ridiculous and second only to 'Avengers: Endgame' (which remains in a league of its own, with a $357.1 million opener).
• For comparison, 'Brand New Day' is expected to leave 'Toy Story 5' ($159.6 million) in its dust, though it'll still be trailing the highly anticipated 'Deadpool & Wolverine' (which notched $211.4 million) and might just edge close to 'Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness' ($187 million).

Who's Actually in This?

Destin Daniel Cretton is in the director's chair, and as you'd expect, it's a pretty stacked cast:

Tom Holland's back as Peter Parker. Zendaya returns (presumably for more 'will-they-won't-they' energy), with Jacob Batalon also swinging back in. Add Jon Bernthal, Mark Ruffalo, Sadie Sink, Michael Mando, Liza Colón-Zayas, and Marvin 'Krondon' Jones III, so you can expect the usual Marvel blend of familiar faces and a few wildcards.

Oddly enough, the folks crunching the numbers reckon it's going to play particularly well with lads under 25 (no surprise there – that’s pretty much the holy grail for tentpole superhero launches).

"Spider-Man: Brand New Day hits cinemas 31 July 2026."

If you're wondering where this all started, the box office chatter originally came from a Deadline report, and for the comic nerds watching this space, it was also covered by Mintu Kumar Tomar at SuperHeroHype.