‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ Just Set A Rotten Tomatoes Record That Nobody Saw Coming
Tom Holland has spent close to a decade shaping his version of Peter Parker into one of the most beloved corners of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and every solo outing has arrived carrying sky high expectations. With each film, the actor has found a way to add a new emotional layer to the wall crawler. Now, with ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ marking his fourth trip in the suit, fans have spent weeks wondering whether Holland could top himself once more.
The new film picks up years after ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’, with Peter now living in near total isolation after voluntarily erasing himself from the memories of everyone he loves. He is crime fighting full time in a city that no longer knows his name, and the pressure of that lonely double life is pushing him toward a strange physical transformation even as a dangerous new threat emerges. That threat is a mysterious entity that can jump from person to person, and it arrives just as Peter himself starts experiencing changes to his own health and powers.
That emotional backdrop is exactly what fueled the reaction from fan account Cosmic Marvel, who posted on X that ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ had debuted with a 98 percent audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, framing it as both the highest rated film in the MCU and the highest rated Spider-Man movie ever released. The numbers backing that claim turned out to be very real. The film earned a near perfect 98 percent fresh audience score on Rotten Tomatoes Popcornmeter, built from more than one thousand verified user ratings, breaking the previous record set by Holland’s own ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home.’
That 98 percent figure also puts ‘Brand New Day’ in rare company across the entire franchise. The score ties the movie with ‘Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings’ for the highest audience rating of any film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and it lands one point higher than ‘No Way Home’ managed back in 2021.
Critics have been kind to the film as well, even if their enthusiasm has not quite matched the audience response. As of this week, ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ holds a 91 percent Tomatometer score from 198 reviews, paired with that 98 percent Popcornmeter rating built from more than 500 verified audience ratings, a combination that lands the film comfortably alongside the rest of Holland’s trilogy in terms of overall goodwill.
Director Destin Daniel Cretton has been open about wanting this chapter to sit in a heavier emotional space than previous entries. Speaking with The Mary Sue, Cretton discussed exploring a more vulnerable side of Peter Parker, saying that everybody loves sad Peter Parker and explaining why those difficult moments matter so much to the character’s lasting appeal, while stressing the film was never meant to be a completely bleak superhero story.
With ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ now playing in theaters and audiences responding this strongly, the pressure shifts to whether that number holds as more people see it this weekend. Are you buying into a sadder, more isolated Peter Parker, or do you think the Popcornmeter is about to come back down to earth?
