Samwise Film & TV Marketing Newsletter
Saturday, August 1, 2026
Spider-Man: Brand New Day Sets All-Time Opening Day Record With $167M
Spider-Man: Brand New Day, starring Tom Holland, shattered domestic opening day records on Friday, earning $167 million — surpassing the previous record held by Avengers: Endgame. The Sony and Marvel blockbuster is tracking for a domestic opening weekend between $250 million and $280 million, which would rank among the top three opening weekends of all time. Preview screenings alone generated $72 million, topping Endgame’s $60 million Thursday preview record. The North American marketplace overall is projecting a record-breaking weekend total, with all films combined potentially surpassing the $402 million collective record set during Endgame’s opening run in April 2019.
Sources: Deadline
Spider-Man: Brand New Day’s $309M Promotional Campaign Becomes Hollywood’s Largest Ever
Spider-Man: Brand New Day’s promotional push has reached $309 million in media value, setting a new Hollywood record for a promotional campaign. The effort spans 165 brand partners — including BMW, McDonald’s, Little Caesars, Samsung, and Liquid I.V. — with BMW weaving its Neue Klasse iX3 and 5 Series Sedan into the film’s storyline as product placement. The campaign achieved a social media universe reach of 2.86 billion across TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, X, and Instagram, surpassing the previous record of 2.4 billion set by Avengers: Endgame, with four brand partners securing on-screen cameos in the film itself.
Sources: Deadline
Prime Video Launches Batman: Caped Crusader Season 2 With Matthew Needham as The Joker
Prime Video launched all 10 episodes of Batman: Caped Crusader Season 2 on July 31 as a binge release available in more than 240 countries and territories. The animated noir series, set in 1940s Gotham and executive-produced by J.J. Abrams’s Bad Robot Productions, introduces Matthew Needham as The Joker, with the casting announced at San Diego Comic-Con. The series stars Hamish Linklater as Bruce Wayne in a period-piece reimagining developed under Warner Bros. Animation and DC Studios. Amazon’s gaming arm Luna simultaneously launched a companion title, Batman: Caped Crusader – Chronicles, on the same date.
Sources: Deadline
Paramount Agrees to Delay Warner Bros. Discovery Merger Until 2027 Amid Antitrust Challenge
Paramount has agreed to delay the proposed $111 billion merger with Warner Bros. Discovery until at least June 1, 2027, following an antitrust lawsuit filed by 12 state attorneys general on July 13 and a separate suit by the Writers Guild of America the following day. A judge extended the temporary restraining order pausing the deal through August 17, scrapping a scheduled August 3 preliminary injunction hearing. CEO David Ellison addressed Paramount staff, asserting the facts and law favor their position. States allege the merger would stifle competition in wide-release theatrical distribution and cable licensing, while the WGA argues it would limit competition for writers’ services.
Sources: Deadline
The Odyssey Surpasses $640M Worldwide; Toy Story 5 Crosses $1 Billion
The Odyssey, Christopher Nolan’s IMAX epic starring Matt Damon, cleared $640 million worldwide in cumulative global receipts, having surpassed Oppenheimer’s lifetime box office total in just 13 days of release. The film opened to $124 million domestically — a box office record for Damon — and accumulated $289 million in North American ticket sales through its second weekend. In tandem, Toy Story 5 from Disney–Pixar crossed the $1 billion global milestone, with both accomplishments appearing in the same Deadline global box office report published this week, underscoring a strong 2026 theatrical performance driven by event-scale releases.
Sources: Deadline
Box Office — Currently in Theatres
| # | Title | Release Date | Weekend | Cumulative |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Spider-Man: Brand New Day | Jul 31 | $260.0M est. | $260.0M est. |
| 2 | The Odyssey | Jul 17 | $90.0M | $289.4M |
| 3 | Moana | Jul 3 | $10.6M | $102.6M |
| 4 | Hadestown: The Musical | Jul 24 | $10.3M | $10.3M |
| 5 | Toy Story 5 | Jun 19 | $10.2M | $448.7M |
| 6 | Minions & Monsters | Jul 3 | $9.8M | $155.5M |
| 7 | Evil Dead Burn | Jul 10 | $2.8M | $29.4M |
| 8 | The Invite | Jun 26 | $2.6M | $19.8M |
| 9 | Young Washington | Jul 3 | $1.9M | $44.9M |
| 10 | Motor City | Jul 24 | $1.7M | $1.7M |
| 11 | Obsession | May 15 | $1.5M | $261.4M |
| 12 | Jana Nayagan | Jul 24 | $1.4M | $1.4M |
| 13 | Supergirl | Jun 26 | $0.8M | $71.6M |
| 14 | Disclosure Day | Jun 12 | $0.7M | $116.0M |
| 15 | Her Private Hell | Jul 24 | $0.5M | $0.5M |
| 16 | Pinocchio: Unstrung | Jul 24 | $0.4M | $0.4M |
| 17 | Backrooms | May 29 | $0.3M | $196.8M |
| 18 | Haunted Heist | Jul 24 | $0.3M | $0.3M |
| 19 | Scary Movie | Jun 5 | $0.1M | $108.2M |
| 20 | Jackass: Best and Last | Jun 26 | $0.1M | $18.2M |
Source: Box Office Mojo · Weekend estimates · #1 projected; rows 2–20 from Jul 24–26
Curated by JD · samwise.agency