BEIJING – Spider-Man: Brand New Day got off to a smashing start in China, delivering one of the strongest debuts in the country for a Hollywood film in 2026 and providing a boost to the world’s second-largest film market.
Distributor Sony Pictures Entertainment said Tom Holland and Zendaya’s latest film has earned US$121 million (S$155 million) in the country since its July 29 release, contributing to a global box-office haul of US$927 million. The superhero film brought in more than 130 million yuan (S$24.7 million) on IMAX China screens, marking the biggest opening day for a Hollywood release in the format since Avengers: Endgame (2019), the company said.
The performance offers a bright spot for Walt Disney Co’s Marvel in what was once one of its most lucrative overseas markets. China played a pivotal role in the franchise’s global success during the Avengers era, with Avengers: Endgame collecting more than 4.2 billion yuan in 2019 and Avengers: Infinity War (2018) surpassing 2.4 billion yuan, making them among the country’s biggest Hollywood releases ever.
That momentum was disrupted by the pandemic and escalating geopolitical tensions, which resulted in several Marvel films missing theatrical releases in China between 2020 and 2022. Even after Disney regained market access, more recent Marvel titles have struggled to achieve their former popularity.
Spider-Man has remained one of Disney’s strongest superhero brands in China, however – a popularity the company is betting extends well beyond movie theatres. Shanghai Disneyland is building its first major Marvel-themed expansion centred on the web-slinger, according to Disney.
The area will feature a high-speed Spider-Man roller coaster alongside themed dining, retail and entertainment experiences, marking the resort’s first major Marvel attraction and further extending the franchise into one of Disney’s most important international destinations.
The latest release also comes at an important time for China’s film industry. The country’s box-office revenue for the first seven months of 2026 fell by more than 30 per cent from a year earlier, reflecting the absence of a blockbuster on the scale of 2025’s Ne Zha 2, which drove record ticket sales.
The market has shown signs of recovering during the summer season, helped by domestic hits including sports comedy Kung Fu Soccer and animated feature All Wishes Come True!, both of which have attracted family audiences.
Spider-Man adds another major release to the summer slate, with exhibitors also looking ahead to Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, which opens in China in mid-August after a successful debut elsewhere and is expected to drive demand for IMAX China and its 800 screens in the country.
Hollywood has struggled to resonate with Chinese audiences in 2026. Excluding Zootopia 2, which carried over much of its run after opening late last year, no Hollywood release had broken into the year’s top 10 box office before Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
The biggest Hollywood openings of 2026 in China had been Minions & Monsters (about 301 million yuan) and Toy Story 5 (283 million yuan), both well below the blockbuster levels once routinely achieved by Marvel and other major studio franchises. BLOOMBERG
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