Spider-man: Brand New Day Just Stole A Giant Box Office Record From Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Sony Pictures

For nearly two months now, we've been talking about how "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" has been ruling the box office. It literally had the biggest opening weekend for any movie ever, defying already lofty expectations when it came to Marvel's fourth solo outing for Tom Holland's webslinger. Now though, the movie has passed its most impressive milestone yet, taking a major record away from 2015's "Star Wars: The Force Awakens."

With $936.7 to its name domestically, "Brand New Day" has overtaken "The Force Awakens," which made $936.6 million in North America during its epic run a little more than a decade ago. "The Force Awakens" had been, for all this time, the highest-grossing domestic release of all time. No longer. That record now belongs to "Spider-Man."

Globally, "Brand New Day" has amassed more than $2.45 billion, making it the third-biggest movie of all time overall. It trails only "Avengers: Endgame" ($2.79 billion) and James Cameron's "Avatar" ($2.92 billion), which became the biggest movie of all time twice. Cameron's epic surrendered the crown briefly to "Endgame" only to take it back thanks to a very successful re-release.

Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton ("Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings"), the latest "Spider-Man" movie sees Peter Parker fighting crime full-time as Spidey in a world that doesn't remember him. A change is sparked inside of Peter that he may not have the power to control. But that transformation might also be the only thing that can stop a powerful villain no one can even see.

Lucasfilm

Just a few weeks ago, "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" became one of only eight movies to cross the $2 billion box office milestone, joining "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" ($2.07 billion) in that exclusive club. Director J.J. Abrams' revival of the "Star Wars" franchise remains the seventh-biggest movie of all-time globally. But the biggest feather in its cap was always that impressive domestic record.

Even as movies like "Avengers: Endgame" took the MCU to its record-shattering box office peak, that record held up. Granted, this isn't taking inflation into account but in the here and now, where it's harder than ever to get people off of the couch to go to the movies when it's easier just to say at home and stream something, the fact that "Brand New Day" stole the record is nothing shy of impressive.

But this also takes nothing away from "The Force Awakens." It was a downright cultural moment and  remains the most profitable "Star Wars" movie for Disney, ever since the studio purchased Lucasfilm in 2012. The franchise has had its struggles in recent years, with "The Mandalorian and Grogu" setting an unwanted record for "Star Wars" at the box office making just $345.5 million globally.

It's no secret that the sequel trilogy was divisive, particularly "The Last Jedi" and "The Rise of Skywalker." But in late 2015 and early 2016, the energy was eclectic and the world rallied around the cinematic return of a galaxy far, far away. Despite what came after, "The Force Awakens" was a towering achievement.

Sony Pictures

The culture has shifted a great deal in the last decade though and "Star Wars," at least for the moment, is no longer the king of the hill. Disney has to figure out what the future of that franchise looks like. Even the Marvel Cinematic Universe, once the unquestioned king of Hollywood, has fallen from grace, with movies like "Thunderbolts" and "Captain America: Brave New World" falling well short of expectations last year.

But "Spider-Man" is in a different category. It's been the most consistently popular superhero franchise on the planet for more than 20 years now, dating back to director Sam Raimi's original groundbreaking 2002 live-action take on the Marvel Comics hero. Tom Holland's take on Peter Parke has been particularly popular. Each of his movies has made more than the last. "Spider-Man: No Way Home" made $610 million in profits for Marvel and Sony after pulling in more than $1.9 billion worldwide.

After that, it seemed hard to believe that a more grounded, street-level adventure without three generations of Spider-Men could possibly outdo its predecessor. Yet, here we are. Holland's Spidey is now unquestionably one of the most popular movie characters in the history of cinema. Audiences, very specifically, love his take on the character.

Looking ahead, the "Brand New Day" post-credits scene seemed to set up a future appearance for Holland's Spidey in the MCU in the not-too-distant future. It won't be in "Avengers: Doomsday," but it shouldn't be too hard for fans to figure out when he'll show up next. Meanwhile, Sony and Marvel Studios are undoubtedly going to make "Spider-Man 5" a top priority.

"Spider-Man: Brand New Day" is in theaters now.