Spider-Man: Brand New Day already has little left to prove at the box office. The Tom Holland-led film opened to a record USD 360 million domestically and USD 932 million worldwide, according to Sony, and went on to become the highest-grossing film ever at the North American box office. Now, reports suggest Sony is preparing to bring Spider-Man: Brand New Day back to theatres with additional footage. Neither Sony nor Marvel has announced a release date yet.
One of the most intriguing possibilities is the return of Rosario Dawson's Claire Temple. Dawson had previously revealed that she filmed a scene for the film in which Claire was involved in caring for Peter Parker after he was hospitalised. The sequence was ultimately removed from the theatrical cut, with Jon Bernthal's Punisher taking over that portion of the story. Reports now suggest that the deleted material could be among the footage restored for the re-release.
The possibility is particularly interesting for fans of Marvel's Netflix-era characters. Dawson played Claire Temple across Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist and The Defenders, making her one of the connective characters of Marvel's earlier television universe. Bringing the scene back would therefore give audiences a glimpse of a sequence that was shot but never made it to the original theatrical version.
There could, however, be more than just the Claire Temple material. Some reports indicate that additional surprises are being considered, although the studio has not revealed what else could form part of the re-release. Sony has also not confirmed whether the new version will have a specific subtitle or a separate theatrical campaign.
The timing is hard to ignore. Avengers Endgame: Encore returned to cinemas on September 25 with new material connected to Avengers: Doomsday. The re-release opened to an estimated USD 86 million worldwide, giving Disney and Marvel a substantial theatrical event from a film audiences had already seen.
Brand New Day could potentially benefit from a similar strategy. The film currently stands at around USD 950.7 million in North American gross and approximately USD 2.5 billion worldwide. That puts it less than USD 50 million away from the unprecedented USD 1 billion domestic mark. A return to theatres could therefore give Sony another opportunity to push the film towards that milestone.
For Brand New Day, the potential re-release would also come after an unusually strong theatrical run. The film has already surpassed Star Wars: The Force Awakens to become the biggest domestic release ever, while its worldwide haul has taken it past Spider-Man: No Way Home to become Sony's biggest film.
Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton and written by Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers, Spider-Man: Brand New Day stars Holland alongside Zendaya, Sadie Sink, Jon Bernthal, Jacob Batalon, Tramell Tillman, Michael Mando and Mark Ruffalo. The story follows Peter Parker as he operates as Spider-Man in a world where nobody remembers his identity, while an emerging threat forces him to confront another major change in his life.
