Spider-Man: Brand New Day has extended its remarkable run at the North American box office, holding onto the No. 1 position for a sixth consecutive weekend. The feat puts Tom Holland’s latest Spider-Man film among the longest-running box office leaders in recent years, while also highlighting how quiet the theatrical market has been during the Labor Day holiday weekend.
The film collected approximately $18 million between Friday and Sunday and is projected to reach $23.3 million through Monday. Its six-week run at the top is the longest since 2022’s Avatar: The Way of Water, which spent seven consecutive weekends in first place.
With $923 million already earned domestically, Brand New Day is closing in on Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which finished its North American run with $936 million without adjusting for inflation. If current momentum continues, Brand New Day should soon become the highest-grossing movie ever at the domestic box office.
Globally, the fourth Spider-Man film starring Holland has generated approximately $2.4 billion, placing it third on the all-time worldwide box office chart. It currently trails 2009’s Avatar at $2.9 billion and Avengers: Endgame at $2.7 billion, while remaining ahead of Avatar: The Way of Water at $2.3 billion.
2026 Delivers Hollywood’s Strongest Summer Since COVID
The Labor Day weekend also brings the summer movie season to a close, and the overall results represent a major recovery for theaters.
Domestic ticket sales from May through early September reached approximately $4.73 billion, according to Rentrak. That makes this the second-biggest summer on record in terms of unadjusted domestic revenue, narrowly missing the $4.755 billion record established in 2013.
Several major releases helped drive the recovery, including Spider-Man: Brand New Day, The Odyssey, Toy Story 5 and The Devil Wears Prada 2. Smaller successes such as Obsession and Backrooms also contributed to the strong season.
Those hits helped compensate for several expensive disappointments, including Disney’s live-action Moana, Warner Bros. and DC’s Supergirl, and Amazon MGM’s Masters of the Universe.
Rentrak analyst Paul Dergarabedian described the summer as a potential turning point for movie theaters, arguing that the season demonstrated the continuing appeal of seeing major films on the big screen.
Labor Day Releases Struggle to Find an Audience
Despite the strength of the summer overall, the Labor Day weekend itself has been considerably quieter. Brand New Day remained on top largely because several new releases failed to make a significant impact.
Paramount’s R-rated crime thriller By Any Means opened in fourth place with $7.4 million from 2,903 North American theaters. Its four-day holiday estimate stands at $9.1 million.
The film, directed by Elegance Bratton, follows a young Black FBI agent played by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II who teams up with a notorious mob hitman portrayed by Mark Wahlberg to investigate a series of murders targeting civil rights leaders.
Audiences responded more favorably than critics, with the film receiving a B+ CinemaScore and a 52% Rotten Tomatoes rating. Hammerstone Studios reportedly produced the movie for around $30 million, with Paramount handling distribution for a fee.
Fall 2 Opens Well Below Expectations
Fall 2: Deadpoint had an even rougher debut. The survival sequel opened at No. 12 with just $2.3 million from 1,704 theaters and is expected to reach approximately $2.9 million over its first four days.
That opening is close to the original Fall, which debuted with $2.5 million in 2022. The first film ultimately earned $7.2 million domestically and $18 million worldwide against a production budget of only $3 million.
The sequel once again puts its characters in a perilous situation, this time following two friends who travel to Thailand before becoming trapped approximately 4,000 feet above the ground after a rockslide.
Onslaught Opens to an Even Weaker Result
Adam Wingard’s action-horror movie Onslaught performed worse still, arriving in 13th place with $1.8 million from 1,918 theaters. Its four-day Labor Day estimate is only $2.3 million.
The film has received weak reactions from both critics and moviegoers, earning a C CinemaScore and a 54% Rotten Tomatoes score.
Onslaught stars Adria Arjona as an army sniper attempting to protect her young daughter from genetically engineered super soldiers. Its poor opening combined with the weak audience response could make it difficult for the film to maintain a long theatrical run.
The Odyssey and Coyote vs. Acme Continue to Perform
With the holiday newcomers failing to challenge the established releases, Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey comfortably retained second place during its eighth weekend.
The blockbuster earned $13 million from Friday through Sunday and is expected to finish the four-day weekend with approximately $17 million. Its North American total has reached $584 million, while worldwide revenue stands at approximately $1.62 billion.
IMAX has been particularly important to the film’s performance, contributing roughly $486 million worldwide, or around 30% of its total global box office.
Meanwhile, Coyote vs. Acme placed third with $11.3 million from 3,727 theaters. The film’s second-weekend decline was only 27%, giving it an estimated four-day total of $14.5 million.
The Looney Tunes spinoff has now earned approximately $37 million domestically and has benefited from strong reviews and audience reactions.
Its theatrical journey has been unusually complicated. Warner Bros. originally shelved the completed movie as a $30 million tax write-off, a decision that generated significant backlash from filmmakers and other members of the entertainment industry. The studio eventually allowed the creators to shop the movie to other distributors, with independent company Ketchup Entertainment ultimately acquiring it.
Buddy Posts an Unusual Second-Weekend Increase
Roadside Attractions’ horror thriller Buddy also delivered an unusual result, climbing to seventh place with $5.7 million from 1,771 theaters in its second weekend.
Rather than falling after its opening, the film increased its weekend gross by approximately 5%. It is expected to bring in $7.2 million through Monday, pushing its domestic total to around $15.7 million.
The Sundance premiere stars Cristin Milioti, Michael Shannon and Keegan-Michael Key. Its deliberately strange premise follows children trapped inside a surreal 1990s-style children’s television program, where they must escape a terrifying host in the form of a unicorn voiced by Key.
Can the Fall Movie Season Keep the Momentum Going?
Hollywood now enters the fall release calendar following one of its strongest summers since the pandemic disrupted theatrical exhibition.
Several major releases will attempt to maintain that momentum, including Practical Magic 2 starring Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock, Tom Cruise’s comedy Digger, a new Resident Evil reboot from Weapons director Zach Cregger, and Verity, an adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s novel starring Anne Hathaway and Dakota Johnson.
The holiday season could provide an even bigger boost. Upcoming tentpoles such as Avengers: Doomsday, Dune: Part Three and Jumanji 3 are positioned around Christmas, giving theaters another opportunity to build on the summer’s success.
If the fall and holiday slates continue producing major hits, North American annual box office revenue could surpass $10 billion for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic.
After several difficult years, the latest numbers suggest that the theatrical movie business may finally be entering a sustained recovery.
