Spider-Man: Brand New Day Powered by Holland and Zendaya Buzz

Spider-Man: Brand New Day delivered the biggest domestic opening weekend in box office history, earning $360 million and surpassing the long-standing $357.1 million record set by Avengers: Endgame seven years ago. Combined with Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, which remained strong in its third weekend, the two films generated roughly $430 million domestically, setting a new record for the highest-grossing combined box office weekend.

Industry observers point to Sony and Marvel Studios’ marketing strategy as a major factor behind the film’s success. The studio supported Brand New Day with a record-breaking $309 million promotional campaign, establishing a new benchmark for movie marketing.

According to analytics firm RelishMix, the film’s combined social media reach across TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, X and Instagram totaled 2.86 billion followers before release, exceeding the 2.4 billion audience reached by Avengers: Endgame and the 2 billion associated with Avengers: Infinity War.

A significant portion of that online reach came from the film’s stars. Zendaya’s social media audience of 216 million followers and Tom Holland’s 70 million followers, along with Jon Bernthal’s 5.3 million followers, provided the campaign with a massive built-in promotional platform before paid advertising began.

Sony also achieved record engagement with the film’s first trailer. Studio chairman Tom Rothman told Deadline the trailer attracted 719 million views during its first 24 hours and reached 1.1 billion views within four days. Rothman said the campaign intentionally focused on emotion rather than spectacle, a strategy that proved highly effective for the superhero sequel.

The promotional campaign expanded through several major brand partnerships. BMW and Samsung served as key marketing partners, while McDonald’s handled the international fast-food promotion. Collaborations with Fortnite and PUBG Mobile also introduced the film to younger gaming audiences, particularly viewers aged 13 to 17, a demographic that represented 17% of Spider-Man: No Way Home’s opening weekend audience.

The real-life relationship between Tom Holland and Zendaya also became a central element of the promotional campaign. Since both actors star in Spider-Man: Brand New Day and Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, their shared press tour promoted both films simultaneously. Social media marketing executive Mara Freedman told Deadline that the couple’s private personal life increased public interest whenever they appeared together during promotional events.

Earlier this year, fan interest reached another level when AI-generated fake wedding photos of Holland and Zendaya spread widely online, highlighting the strong demand for content involving the pair. Rather than directly addressing the speculation, the promotional campaign leaned into the public fascination by featuring the actors together throughout what fans called the “Spidey World Tour.” During appearances, the pair frequently coordinated black-and-red outfits that reflected the film’s visual identity, including during a widely covered event in Mexico City.

Zendaya’s wardrobe choices generated additional online discussion throughout the promotional campaign. Her series of predominantly black outfits led fans to speculate about her character’s fate in the film. Known for incorporating story-related themes into her red carpet fashion through “method dressing,” Zendaya once again turned premiere appearances into an ongoing source of audience engagement without requiring additional promotional spending.

The success of Spider-Man: Brand New Day adds to an already remarkable year for Zendaya. Together, The Drama, The Odyssey and Brand New Day have generated nearly $2 billion worldwide in 2026. With Dune: Part Three scheduled for release in December, she could move closer to the record for the highest single-year worldwide box office total by an actress, a mark currently held by Brie Larson following the releases of Captain Marvel and Avengers: Endgame in 2019.

Tom Holland has also enjoyed a strong year at the global box office. The Odyssey and Spider-Man: Brand New Day have earned roughly $1.8 billion worldwide combined, and a possible appearance in Avengers: Doomsday could further increase that total. Notably, Dune: Part Three and Avengers: Doomsday are currently scheduled to open on the same day, placing Zendaya in two of the year’s biggest competing releases.

The campaign behind Spider-Man: Brand New Day also demonstrated how studios can maximize major releases by aligning promotional schedules around popular talent. With both Brand New Day and The Odyssey sharing the same press cycle and audience attention, Sony successfully used the overlap to strengthen interest in both films while reinforcing the impact of its record-setting marketing investment.