Two of the biggest films of 2026, Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey and Sony and Marvel’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day, are both shaping up to cross the $1 billion mark within weeks of each other, even though they are chasing that milestone in almost opposite ways.
The Odyssey has steadily built its numbers since its release on July 17, while Brand New Day, opening on July 31, is still working off projections rather than confirmed figures. Interestingly, both films also share the same lead pair, Tom Holland and Zendaya, though the two never share a scene in The Odyssey.
A tale of two presales
The Odyssey built its advance momentum slowly and almost entirely around premium formats. Universal put IMAX 70mm tickets on sale a full year ahead of release, and they sold out quickly, generating an estimated $1.5 million on their own.
According to Deadline, Brand New Day has posted the best first-day domestic presales of any release in five years, a mark last held by Spider-Man: No Way Home, and Fandango has confirmed it as its biggest first-day pre-seller of 2026, ahead of even The Odyssey.
Actual numbers versus a moving target
The Odyssey has the advantage of being a known quantity. It opened to $264.1 million worldwide, Nolan’s biggest global debut ever, ahead of The Dark Knight Rises and Oppenheimer, and has since crossed $652 million globally after just ten days in release, including $289 million domestically and $362 million internationally.
Brand New Day, releasing on July 31, is still a projection. Deadline’s early tracking puts US opening at $180-190 million, while Box Office Pro projected $230-250 million. What is consistent across every tracker is that Brand New Day is expected to post 2026’s biggest domestic opening weekend, regardless of where in that range it lands.
The road to $1 billion
The Odyssey’s path to $1 billion is being described in trade coverage as a slow burn rather than a sprint. At $652 million after just ten days, and still awaiting releases in Korea, Japan and other major Asian markets, trade estimates suggest the film could be around $800 million by the end of its third weekend, putting the billion-dollar mark within close reach.
Brand New Day’s path, if it gets there, is expected to look different: a front-loaded blockbuster opening followed by a steadier climb, in keeping with how the two previous Tom Holland-led Spider-Man films performed. Spider-Man: No Way Home opened to $260.1 million domestically in 2021 and finished its run at $1.921 billion worldwide, a benchmark industry watchers say Brand New Day is unlikely to beat on opening weekend but could realistically approach over its full theatrical run.
2026’s billion-dollar club so far
Three Hollywood films have already crossed $1 billion globally in 2026, making it the strongest year for the milestone since before the pandemic. The Super Mario Galaxy Movie was the first to get there, crossing the mark in early June on the strength of a $132 million opening and a built-in fan base from its predecessor.
Michael, Lionsgate’s Michael Jackson biopic starring Jaafar Jackson, followed soon after, becoming the most successful music biopic in box office history, with roughly 63% of its total coming from international markets. Toy Story 5 became the third and, so far, the biggest, crossing $1.02 billion within six weeks of release on the back of a franchise-record domestic opening.
The Odyssey is on track to become the fourth film to cross the threshold this year, and Brand New Day is widely expected to be the fifth, with Avengers: Doomsday still to come later this year.
If both films get there, 2026 will match or exceed the number of billion-dollar Hollywood releases seen in any year since 2019, when nine films crossed the mark before the pandemic brought the number to zero in 2020. It would also mark a rare instance of two films this size, released weeks apart, both clearing the milestone in the same summer.