The MCU Just Broke A Box Office Record For The First Time Since Avengers: Endgame

Published Sep 9, 2026, 9:30 AM EDT Zoë Miskelly is an editor and second in command for Screen Rant's Movies team, having covered the entertainment industry for almost 10 years now. Zoë's love of superheroes and all things Marvel & DC started out in childhood, and has blossomed into a career getting to talk about some of the biggest and best movies and shows of all time, having previously focused on comics while working at WhatCulture. The MCU just broke a major record for the first time since Avengers: Endgame this year that is sure to mean a lot for the franchise. Avengers: Endgame has served as the peak of the MCU timeline currently in many ways. Not only has the film been the last Avengers movie to have hit the big screen for seven years now - though that will change later this year with Avengers: Doomsday - it's also the financial pinnacle of what the franchise is capable of, as a result of how well its huge crossover story was received. With the COVID-19 pandemic kicking off not long after Endgame's release, the MCU has had to navigate a complex few years for its run in the wake of this film zenith, which has also led to some more mixed results for the franchise as it seeks to expand and test the waters when it comes to what fans want for this next era for the superhero scene. Balancing the multifaceted desires of the fanbase while carving out a new age for the MCU hasn't seemed easy by any means, but the franchise having hit a record we haven't seen in the world of film in the years since Avengers: Endgame certainly does suggest it's on the right tracks, especially given how big a success this is for the MCU and the superhero genre in general. Spider-Man: Brand New Day Is The First Movie Since Avengers: Endgame To Hit $2.4B Credit: Sony Pictures Releasing Currently, Spider-Man: Brand New Day's worldwide box office total has risen to a healthy $2.4B, which is an impressive amount to say the least, especially given it's almost $1 billion more than every other movie released in 2026 thus far. That said, it's also all the more stellar overall given this is the first time since 2019 we've seen a movie make this much in its box office total. Funnily enough, the last movie to reach this threshold was also an MCU titan, in the form of Avengers: Endgame, which actually far exceeded the $2.4B milestone, making a collective $2.7B overall. While plenty of movies have come close since - with Ne Zha 2 making $2.2 billion with its worldwide box office earnings in 2025, and Avatar: The Way Of Water making $2.3 billion in 2022 - there was a significant gap wherein this amount was never made again. Looking at the box office impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, it did appear as though this may well be impossible for a movie to hit up until this point, allowing Brand New Day to also act as a sign of prospective recovery for the world of cinema. Spider-Man: Brand New Day's 2026 Success Is Huge For The Future Of The MCU Of course, a considerable part of Spider-Man: Brand New Day's success hinges around the popularity of its beloved titular web-crawling hero, who has historically been one of Marvel's biggest box office draws both inside and outside of the MCU. With that said, Spider-Man: Brand New Day garnering $2.4 billion is a decidedly promising move for the MCU overall still, both because it underlines there is still ample potential for some of the biggest box office hits in the world through the franchise, and because of how this interacts with the wider cinematic universe. One of the biggest points of interest around Brand New Day was how the film advanced the stories of characters other than its hero alone, especially when it came to the arcs of fellow Marvel characters Jean Grey, the Hulk, and the Punisher, who all get considerable screen time in the narrative. Given the compliments directed to how the film fleshed out each of these figures, the success of Brand New Day is sure to help bolster their MCU futures - which is especially promising given Jean Grey is confirmed to be a major character in the 2028 X-Men movie. On a similar level, Spider-Man: Brand New Day's critical reception combined with its popularity looks to have majorly bolstered belief in what the MCU's movies can be capable of, setting up more interest and hope in the next major releases for the franchise following this 2026 film hit. Release Date July 29, 2026 Runtime 145 minutes Director Destin Daniel Cretton Writers Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers Producers Avi Arad, Kevin Feige, Louis D'Esposito, Amy Pascal, David Cain Cast Peter Parker / Spider-Man Four years after No Way Home, Peter Parker lives alone, forgotten by everyone he loves, and devotes himself entirely to being Spider-Man.