The team behind Spider-Man: Brand New Day have been taking a well-earned victory lap in the press over the last 24 hours, after it was confirmed that the new Marvel Phase 6 movie topped Avengers: Endgame at the box office in the US on its opening weekend. But amidst the congratulatory back-slapping, director Destin Daniel Cretton revealed a key tidbit from production that goes a long way to explaining why Tom Holland is the perfect Spider-Man.
Warning: spoilers for Spider-Man: Brand New Day follow.
During a conversation with Deadline, Cretton revealed that the very first dramatic scene shot captured for the movie was the moment where Peter Parker brings flowers to Aunt May's grave. At the end of a long day (if you'll recall, Peter visits the grave multiple times across the film), as they were about to wrap, Cretton decided to shoot an unplanned version, in case it was needed for the end of the movie. Holland was mic'd up, and improvised the line "You'd be happy to know that I've decided I'm not going to do this alone anymore" on the spot, according to Cretton.
"That statement became the north star of the entire movie," Cretton said. "Now it feels obvious that's where the movie was always headed, but at the time we shot it, we didn't really have that simple core idea yet. We worked backward from that point and realized, 'That's where we're going.' To me, that's the entire movie right there." It's proof, were it needed, that Holland knows his Peter Parker better than anyone (and that maybe he'll make a great screenwriter one day).
Spider-Man: Brand New Day got off to a record-breaking start at the box office this weekend, pulling in some $932 million worldwide, making it the second highest-grossing opening weekend of all time globally, behind Avengers: Endgame's untouchable $1.2 billion. And that was without an IMAX bump, as Spider-Man: Brand New Day is only set to share the biggest screens going with The Odyssey from August 7.
Now that the various cats are out of the bag when it comes to the fourth, secret-shrouded Holland Spidey movie, Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige and co have been speaking more freely about the movie's many surprises. Feige even revealed that the film's misunderstood villain, Jean Grey, was instead originally "a very obscure character nobody has ever heard of." A prop modeller on the film also explained where those Mister Negative rumors came from.
Next up for Marvel Studios are VisionQuest on the small screen, and make-or-break team-up movie Avengers: Doomsday on the big screen. Though, as far as we're aware, Tom Holland's Spider-Man won't show up in either. The Spider-Man: Brand New Day post-credits scene may offer a few clues about when he'll next swing onto screens.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day is now in theaters. For more on-screen secrets, zip on over to our essential guide on Spider-Man: Brand New Day Easter eggs, or dive into our full Spider-Man: Brand New Day ending explained guide.
