AVENGERS: ENDGAME Directors Pass the Box Office Gauntlet to SPIDER-MAN: BRAND NEW DAY in Fun Social Media Post
There's a new king of the domestic opening weekend, and even the filmmakers who held the crown are celebrating the moment.
After spending more than seven years at the top, Avengers: Endgame has officially been knocked out of the No. 1 spot by Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
Rather than hanging onto the title with a competitive spirit, Joe Russo and Anthony Russo embraced the moment and welcomed the newest Marvel blockbuster into the record books with a classy and very Marvel-worthy message.
The Russo Brothers took to Instagram to congratulate Destin Daniel Cretton, Tom Holland, Zendaya, and the entire Brand New Day team after the film delivered an incredible $360 million domestic opening weekend, narrowly topping Endgame's $357 million debut back in 2019.
Those two films now stand alone as the only movies in history to open above the $300 million mark domestically.
The directors shared artwork featuring Spider-Man sporting victory rings inspired by the Infinity Gauntlet and wrote:
"Huge congratulations to Destin, Tom, Zendaya, Jacob, Jon, Mark, Sadie, Florence, Michael, Marisa, producers Kevin, Amy, Avi, and Rachel, and the entire ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ cast and crew on making domestic box office opening weekend history. The gauntlet has been passed…"
It's a pretty cool full-circle moment for Marvel fans. One generation of heroes set the record, and another has now swung in to claim it.
Of course, Endgame still has plenty of milestones it can proudly hold onto. The film remains the second highest-grossing movie of all time with an incredible $2.7 billion worldwide.
It also still owns the record as the fastest movie ever to reach $1 billion globally, accomplishing the feat during its three-day opening weekend.
Brand New Day has gotten off to an unbelievable start as well. After opening overseas two days ahead of its North American release, it reached the $1 billion milestone in six days, making it the second fastest film ever to hit that mark.
Whether it eventually catches Endgame's final worldwide haul is anyone's guess, but it's certainly putting together the kind of run that has the industry watching closely.
One record Endgame still isn't giving up is the biggest global opening weekend. The Avengers epic launched with an astonishing $1.2 billion worldwide, while Brand New Day kicked things off with an equally impressive $927 million globally.
Marvel fans have seen this kind of passing-of-the-torch moment before. Whenever a major box office record falls, Hollywood has developed a fun tradition of celebrating the achievement instead of treating it like a rivalry.
Back in 2019, James Cameron congratulated the Russo Brothers after Endgame passed Titanic to become the second highest-grossing movie ever. Cameron famously wrote on X:
"An iceberg sank the real Titanic. It took the Avengers to sink my Titanic. Everyone here at Lightstorm Entertainment salutes your amazing achievement. You’ve shown that the movie industry is not the only alive and well, it’s bigger than ever!"
Now it's the Russos' turn to hand over the Infinity Gauntlet. The funny thing is, they might not be waiting very long before they have a shot at taking it right back.
The directing duo returns to the Marvel Cinematic Universe this December with Avengers: Doomsday, their long-awaited follow-up to Endgame. With the movie arriving in theaters on December 18 and expectations already reaching multiversal levels, it wouldn't be surprising if the Russos find themselves chasing another record.
For now, though, the web-slinger gets to enjoy the victory lap. The gauntlet has officially changed hands, and it will be fascinating to see how long Spider-Man gets to wear it.