Spider-Man: Brand New Day has conquered the box office this summer, and looks set to finish its theatrical run as the highest-grossing movie ever in the US. But despite the movie's extraordinary success, Sony Pictures Entertainment CEO and Chairman Ravi Ahuja claims he doesn't yet know when Spider-Man 5 will swing into cinemas.
Speaking at a conference in New York, as reported by Variety, Ahuja discussed Brand New Day's record-breaking success at the box office – the extent of which was a surprise even to those at Sony. "We obviously hadn’t forecast that," Ahuja said. "We thought it would do incredibly well, but we didn’t know that would do that well."
It's fair to say most pundits expected Brand New Day to perform admirably at the box office, but the results have topped even the most optimistic forecasts, particularly given the recent superhero downswing and the fact that No Way Home featured three times as many Spider-Men; Brand New Day, comparatively, was far less of an event. Perhaps people were really curious about the identity of Sadie Sink's mystery character after all.
Ahuja has a theory about how and why Brand New Day massively overachieved. "The movie itself is very emotional… So a little bit different to what some of the more recent superhero movies have been. Still very much a superhero movie – there are a lot of big action scenes. It’s a lot of fun. But it’s emotional. Some people come away crying, so that is something clearly that resonated with the audience."
As for when we'll see Spider-Man 5, Ahuja, unsurprisingly, didn't have a straight answer, confirming only what we already know: that the movie is currently undated. "We don’t have a date for it yet. A couple years usually, but there’s a Spider-Verse movie [Beyond the Spider-Verse] coming next year.” Ahuja's not wrong that it's "usually" been a couple of years between mainline Tom Holland Spider-Man movies; the home trilogy released on that schedule between 2017 and 2021. There was a five-year gap between No Way Home and Brand New Day, but hopefully the wait won't be quite as protracted this time round.
Absence clearly made the hearts of audiences grow fonder, however, as Brand New Day looks set to end its theatrical run as the third-highest-grossing movie ever, having recently swung past Avatar: The Way of Water on the all-time totals. It's also on track to pass Star Wars: The Force Awakens' domestic record, which has held firm for over a decade; unbeaten even by Avengers: Endgame.
Whether the next Marvel movie, Avengers: Doomsday, can come close to Brand New Day's record-smashing success remains to be seen. Though given Doomsday has already made over $40m on pre-sales alone with around 100 days till release, it's on track to do very well indeed.
For more, check out our Spider-Man: Brand New Day review, our Spider-Man: Brand New Day ending explained, and our guide on how to watch Marvel movies in order.
