A Spider-Man film has dethroned an Avengers film at the box office, and Disney is taking that as a signal that the next Avengers picture is in for a big opening of its own.

On Disney's quarterly earnings call early Wednesday, 5 August, Disney executive Josh D'Amaro said the record-breaking launch of Spider-Man: Brand New Day "bodes well" for Avengers: Doomsday, which opens 18 December. D'Amaro congratulated Sony, Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige, and the wider Marvel team on the film's performance, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day reached $1 billion at the box office out of the gate, The Hollywood Reporter reported. Its domestic opening — covering the United States and Canada — landed at $360 million, surpassing the $357 million all-time record set by Avengers: Endgame in 2019, according to Deadline. The new Spider-Man also set the record for the biggest domestic opening Friday, pulling in $168 million to beat Endgame's $156.7 million, as reported by Reuters and The Hollywood Reporter.

The numbers arrive after a stretch in which Marvel films performed below the franchise's own historical bar. The three Marvel releases preceding Brand New Day — Captain America: Brave New World, Thunderbolts, and The Fantastic Four: First Steps — each grossed hundreds of millions but were viewed within the industry as softer than past Marvel entries, The Hollywood Reporter noted. Against that backdrop, the Spider-Man opening is a reassertion of Marvel's capacity to fill theatres at a pace few franchises can match.

D'Amaro also used the earnings call to address Disney titles that fell short commercially. He acknowledged that The Mandalorian and Grogu and Moana disappointed in ticket sales, but said both properties still contributed to the company's bottom line through retail merchandise, gaming, and theme-park attendance, The Hollywood Reporter reported.

Avengers: Doomsday has already begun building its own momentum at the box office. The film has accumulated $19 million in advance ticket sales for premium-format theatres since going on sale the previous month, The Hollywood Reporter reported. That figure is an early read on audience appetite, measured months ahead of release.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day also introduces Sadie Sink as the mutant Jean Grey, a character long associated with Marvel's X-Men corner of the franchise. The casting connects the Spider-Man film to the broader mutant storyline Marvel has been weaving into its current slate.

For Disney, the earnings call offered a moment to frame a strong Marvel opening as a leading indicator for what is likely the company's biggest theatrical release of the year. Avengers: Doomsday now carries both the weight of its own franchise history and the evidence that, at least for one weekend in August, a Marvel film out-opened every Marvel film before it.