Could it be that Hollywood’s superheroes have begun to rediscover their powers in China? Perhaps not yet — but their friendly neighborhood standard-bearer certainly has.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day opened across China on Wednesday at a pace the market has not seen for a U.S. comic-book movie in at least seven years, earning more than $16.5 million (RMB 112 million) by midday, with local ticketing giant Maoyan projecting a $37.4 million (RMB 254 million) first-day total. No other superhero title has come close to such heights since Spider-Man: Far From Home bowed to $36 million in 2019. Sitting in a distant second is Venom: The Last Dance with $9.4 million earned on its first day on Chinese screens in 2024.
And Chinese box-office trackers foresee even bigger things for Tom Holland’s latest swing in the spider suit. Maoyan’s full-run forecast, published on the eve of release, pegs the film’s ultimate China total at a whopping $255 million (RMB 1.73 billion), with rival tracker Dengta going higher still at more than $265 million (RMB 1.8 billion). Such projections routinely get revised as a run matures — day-one forecasts especially — but a finish anywhere near that range would rank as Hollywood’s biggest China gross since Avengers: Endgame in 2019, surpassing even Avatar: The Way of Water‘s $246 million.
