Spider-Man continues to swing his way to the bank in Brand New Day

As I said in my last Spider-Man film review, don’t worry about spoilers here. Because there’s some doozies if you can avoid them until you see it in person.

The latest in Marvel’s Universe is Spider-Man: Brand New Day. After the events of the 2021’s No Way Home, the world has forgotten Peter Parker, and that includes his best friends. Peter is alone, so for the last 5 years, he has been fighting crime and living solo, with no ties to the world. The only person he really talks to is a connection in the New York police department. The city’s newest threat, though, may be more than Spider-Man can handle on his own. A strange new villain has been attacking the city’s Damage Control centers, places that monitor superheroes and develop tools to help (or hinder) them. Along with an unlikely friend in the Punisher (yay for Jon Bernthal!!), Spidey must discover the identity of this new really bad badguy before more people get hurt. All while dealing with his own personal emotions of losing his best friend Ned and girlfriend MJ.

Absolutely fantastic movie, full of action, heart, emotion, and a couple great twists, continuing the trend of the recent Spider-Man films. Even though Marvel’s other recent films haven’t always taken off (I loved Thunderbolts*, but it didn’t exactly rake it in at the box office), Spider-Man has been a reliable draw. For the first 3 Spider-Man-centric films in the MCU, they progressed thusly: 1) $880 million at the box office, 92% Rotten Tomatoes; 2) $1.1 billion, 91% Rotten; and 3) $1.9 billion, 93% Rotten. That last one is good for third all-time domestically ($1.1 billion in the USA alone), and seventh all-time globally. That’s a whole lot of spiderwebs. Early tracking has Brand New Day with a shot to finish in the top two all-time domestic opening in the $325+ million range, and an outside chance of claiming the # 1 all-time spot from Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame, which sits at $357 million. I can tell you that I have not seen a theater packed like it was tonight since pre-COVID days. I went to a big 20 screen multiplex, and the parking lot was full to the gills. Not like Disney needs the money, but they’ll be bringing in the accountants for overtime next week. ★★★★★