The biggest opening weekend in domestic box office history now belongs to Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which took $360,091,572 in the US and Canada over its first three days in theaters starting July 31, 2026. That edged Avengers: Endgame, whose $357,115,007 debut had held the top spot since April 2019.
The short version: Of the biggest opening weekends ever recorded, nine of the top 10 belong to Marvel or Star Wars films, and only the first two cleared $300 million. The new record was not settled on Sunday: the studio estimate put Brand New Day second, and the Monday actuals moved it to first. The figures below come from Box Office Mojo’s all-time chart as of October 11, 2026, cross-checked against The Numbers.
The biggest opening weekends of all time: the top 10
These are domestic (US and Canada) three-day openings, unadjusted for ticket price inflation, as Box Office Mojo ranks them.
| Rank and film | Opening weekend | Opened |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Spider-Man: Brand New Day | $360,091,572 | Jul 31, 2026 |
| 2. Avengers: Endgame | $357,115,007 | Apr 26, 2019 |
| 3. Spider-Man: No Way Home | $260,138,569 | Dec 17, 2021 |
| 4. Avengers: Infinity War | $257,698,183 | Apr 27, 2018 |
| 5. Star Wars: The Force Awakens | $247,966,675 | Dec 18, 2015 |
| 6. Star Wars: The Last Jedi | $220,009,584 | Dec 15, 2017 |
| 7. Deadpool & Wolverine | $211,435,291 | Jul 26, 2024 |
| 8. Jurassic World | $208,806,270 | Jun 12, 2015 |
| 9. The Avengers | $207,438,708 | May 4, 2012 |
| 10. Black Panther | $202,003,951 | Feb 16, 2018 |
A few patterns jump out. Disney distributed seven of the 10, and Sony the two Spider-Man entries; Universal’s Jurassic World is the only film in the group not from Disney or Sony, and the only one that is not a superhero or Star Wars title. December dates show up three times, all of them Star Wars or Spider-Man films that used the run-up to Christmas, while spring and summer Marvel releases fill most of the rest. Black Panther is the lone February entry, at $202,003,951. When an opening lands on a long weekend, the chart still ranks the three-day figure; our explainer on how holiday weekends change three-day and four-day totals covers why that matters.
How Brand New Day took the record from Endgame
The record changed hands in a way that shows how opening numbers are reported. On Sunday, August 2, the Associated Press reported that the film had become “the second-biggest North American opening ever with an astonishing $355 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.” At that figure it sat “just a few million shy” of Endgame’s $357 million.
Sunday figures are estimates issued before that day’s sales are fully counted. When the counted figures arrived on Monday, the number rose. ABC News reported on August 3, 2026 that the film “earned $360 million in North American ticket sales during its opening weekend, pushing it past "Avengers: Endgame" as the biggest domestic debut of all time, according to updated numbers released Monday by Sony Pictures.” Sony chairman Tom Rothman marked it in a statement: “Records are made to be broken, but we will take great pride in this one, for as long as we hold it.”
The studio had been cautious going in. According to the AP, after the opening day Sony “predicted it would lead to a $325 million opening weekend.” The film beat its own forecast by a wide margin, and ABC reported the weekend as “the biggest weekend ever for North American movie theaters, with an estimated $430 million in total ticket sales.”
The Numbers’ daily chart shows the shape of the weekend:
- Thursday previews: $72,000,000 from 3,864 theaters
- Friday (previews included): $169,843,039 from 4,487 theaters
- Saturday: $101,525,640, down 40%
- Sunday: $88,722,893, down 13%
By our count the three daily figures add up exactly to the $360,091,572 opening, which means the Thursday preview money is folded into Friday, the standard practice explained in our guide to when Thursday sales count toward Friday. Even the opening day moved between reports: the AP’s Sunday story called it “a record $168 million opening day,” ahead of Endgame’s $157 million Friday, while the final daily figure is higher.
The biggest opening weekends of 2026 so far
Nine releases from 2026 appear in Box Office Mojo’s top 200 opening weekends as of October 11. The third column shows how much of each film’s domestic total came from that first weekend, which says a lot about how the rest of the run went.
| 2026 film (all-time rank) | Opening weekend | Share of domestic total |
|---|---|---|
| Spider-Man: Brand New Day (1) | $360,091,572 | 37.6% |
| Toy Story 5 (25) | $159,677,837 | 33.2% |
| The Super Mario Galaxy Movie (51) | $131,703,340 | 30.6% |
| The Odyssey (58) | $123,502,900 | 20% |
| Michael (94) | $97,206,874 | 26.1% |
| Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu (136) | $81,670,433 | 46% |
| Backrooms (137) | $81,402,424 | 41.2% |
| Project Hail Mary (139) | $80,506,007 | 23.4% |
| The Devil Wears Prada 2 (151) | $76,747,075 | 34.8% |
Toy Story 5 posted the year’s second-best start, and Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey is the outlier on the right-hand column: only 20% of its domestic total came from the opening, meaning it kept selling for weeks. It was still taking $51 million in its third weekend, the AP noted, when Brand New Day pushed it to second place. The Mandalorian and Grogu shows the opposite profile, with 46% of its domestic gross arriving in the first three days. Project Hail Mary, Amazon MGM’s release, also held well, with 23.4% of its run in the opening.
Why a huge opening does not guarantee a huge total
The opening share column is a quick test of word of mouth. Among the all-time leaders, Star Wars: The Force Awakens earned 26.5% of its domestic gross in its first weekend and went on to $936,662,225. Barbie, at rank 23 with $162,022,044, did even better on that measure: its opening was 25.5% of a $636,238,421 domestic total. At the other end, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice opened to $166,007,347, which was 50.2% of everything it would earn domestically.
Brand New Day sits in the middle. Its opening is 37.6% of its total, and The Numbers lists its legs, the domestic total divided by the biggest weekend, at 2.66. The film was not cheap to make: the AP put the reported budget at $225 million before marketing. Through October 11 it has passed Endgame’s domestic total, $956,388,567 to $858,373,000 on Box Office Mojo’s chart.
Reading opening weekend numbers without getting fooled
- Check the day. A headline on Sunday is an estimate. Actuals arrive Monday, and they can change the ranking, as they did here.
- Check the territory. Domestic means the US and Canada. Sony’s worldwide opening for Brand New Day was $932 million, including $572 million from outside North America, ABC reported. Those are different records from the domestic chart.
- Check the tracker. Box Office Mojo and The Numbers agree on the $360,091,572 opening, but their running totals differ slightly: The Numbers shows $956,866,000 domestic against Mojo’s $956,388,567. The gap is timing: The Numbers already includes $477,000 for Sunday, October 11, 2026, and its total through the Saturday, $956,389,000, matches Mojo to within a thousand dollars. Our explainer on why Box Office Mojo and The Numbers sometimes differ walks through the reasons.
- Remember inflation. Every figure on these charts is in the dollars of its year. The Avengers’ 2012 opening of $207,438,708 bought more tickets than the same sum would in 2026.
Who is in the record-setter? Our Spider-Man: Brand New Day cast guide lists the players. ABC counted it as the 38th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and The Numbers puts its running time at 150 minutes.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the biggest opening weekend of all time?
Spider-Man: Brand New Day, with $360,091,572 at the domestic box office from July 31 to August 2, 2026, according to Box Office Mojo and The Numbers. It passed Avengers: Endgame, which opened to $357,115,007 in April 2019.
Did Spider-Man: Brand New Day really beat Avengers: Endgame?
Yes, on the final figures. Sunday studio estimates put it at $355 million, second to Endgame, as the AP reported. Updated numbers released by Sony on Monday raised it to $360 million, ahead of Endgame’s $357 million.
How many movies have opened above $300 million?
Two. Sony said Brand New Day was only the second film to pass $300 million in an opening weekend, after Avengers: Endgame. The third-biggest opening, Spider-Man: No Way Home, took $260,138,569.
What was the biggest opening weekend of 2026?
Spider-Man: Brand New Day at $360,091,572. Next on Box Office Mojo’s chart as of October 11, 2026 are Toy Story 5 at $159,677,837 and The Super Mario Galaxy Movie at $131,703,340.
Do opening weekend figures include Thursday previews?
Yes. For Brand New Day, The Numbers lists $72,000,000 in Thursday previews, and the Friday figure of $169,843,039 includes them; the three days add up to the full opening.
Sources
- Opening Weekends (all-time domestic chart) — Box Office Mojo by IMDbPro, data as of October 11, 2026
- Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026): Box Office and Financial Information — The Numbers (Nash Information Services), accessed October 11, 2026
- ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ nets second-best North American opening ever with $355 million — The Associated Press (via WVUE Fox 8), August 2, 2026
- ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ beats ‘Avengers: Endgame’ in record opening weekend — Shafiq Najib, ABC News, August 3, 2026