The movie industry ended July with a record-breaking superhero opening and a studio sitting on the ticking rights of a filmmaker breaking the silence on her own film.
Spider-Man Swings The Odyssey Out of First Place
Spider-Man: Brand New Day did what only a handful of films have ever done, and done it before it even officially opened. Thursday previews stood at $72 million, breaking the all-time preview record previously held by Avengers: Endgame at $60 million.
Brand New Day closed its first full day at $168 million – coupled with the $96 million it pulled on its official opening on July 31 – marking the biggest single opening day in history. The figure was further bolstered by Dolby Cinema’s best opening weekend with over $10 million. ScreenX, the format the film was shot for, posted its biggest opening with $14.4 million globally, and 4DX set a new record of $17 million globally.
The web slinger’s domestic debut weekend landed at $355 million, the second-biggest in history and surpassing Sony’s pre-release estimate of $195 million by 82%. It also blew past wider industry projections of $260 to $280 million by 36.5%.
Brand New Day grossed $573 million internationally, bringing the global opening weekend total to $927 million, the second-biggest worldwide debut ever. The film also broke new opening records in India and France.
Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, Brand New Day holds a near-perfect 90% critics score and 98% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. It joined The Odyssey as one of the only two films to cross one million Letterboxd logs in under six days. The shared milestone pushed this past weekend to the highest-grossing domestic weekend in history. The Odyssey, now in its third frame, dropped 43% for $51 million domestically and crossed $700 million globally within 12 days of release.
Warner Bros. Is Running Out of Time on Barbie
Interest in a Barbie sequel has existed since the original crossed $1.5 billion worldwide in 2023, the biggest box office result in Warner Bros. history.
According to Insider Information, the studio has been negotiating with the creative team for months, with offers that include upfront raises and back-end profit participation tied to box-office performance. Ryan Gosling is reportedly asking for $20 million.
Warner Bros. Discovery chief David Zaslav has declined to approve the terms proposed by the creative team, calling the profit-participation structure too generous.
The creative team, including writer-director Greta Gerwig and her writing partner Noah Baumbach, crafted a story they want to tell and are ready to write, but will not begin or share the concept until a deal is signed.
If no deal is reached by December, the rights revert to Mattel, which would then develop a new Barbie film from scratch with a different team, not permitted to bring story elements or talent from the Gerwig version.
Paramount Drops Children of Blood and Bone Trailer, Author Is Not Watching
Paramount released the first trailer for Children of Blood and Bone on Thursday, the Afro-fantasy adaptation of Tomi Adeyemi’s 2018 bestselling novel, directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood and set for theatrical and IMAX release on January 15, 2027.
The trailer arrived alongside a behind-the-scenes and commentary video in which Prince-Bythewood shared her approach to the adaptation alongside the star cast.
The day after the trailer was released, Tomi Adeyemi posted a five-minute TikTok addressing the situation. She had previously revealed that she had cut off communication with Amandla Stenberg, sharing a screenshot of a message telling the actress not to mention her publicly or contact her again before blocking her.
In the video, Tomi said she left the set of her own film adaptation “hyperventilating and sobbing.” She also claimed she never saw the finished film, and never plans to. The writer added that the people involved have continued to antagonise her and that she felt compelled to speak publicly because things were not improving.
Tomi did not specify what happened on set but was unambiguous in her position, calling the experience “the worst thing I have ever had to live through” and saying she has sworn off the project entirely. She later took down the video on TikTok.
Read Next >>>> Marvel Dominated Comic-Con, The Odyssey Faces Piracy and AI Controversy While Paramount’s Merger Stalls
Marvel made the biggest headlines at Comic-Con, The Odyssey continued its strong box office run despite piracy, and Paramount’s merger hit another delay.
Read the full report here.
