The 10 Biggest Opening Weekends in Domestic Box Office History

'Spider-Man: Brand New Day' currently holds the crown.

August 11, 2026

Tom Holland in a burgundy suit and Zendaya in a white gown at a "Spider-Man: No Way Home" event, posing together on a red carpet. — Image via Getty/Alan Chapman/Dave Benett/WireImage

2026 has proven to be another banner year for those of us partial to the Al Pacino “What a picture!” meme. Turns out, this has dovetailed with a hell of a run at the box office, as cinephiles and the three-movies-a-year crowd alike have both been well-fed leading into awards season.

If there is an overarching lesson to be gleaned from 2026 U.S. box office numbers to date, it’s that there is room—better yet, a measurable hunger—for a wide range of big-screen stories.

A24’s The Drama, for example, isn’t hanging out in the billion-dollar club alongside other Zendaya-led smashes like Spider-Man: Brand New Day or The Odyssey, yet still stands as an undeniable hit in its own right after scoring strong reviews and a final worldwide haul of over $132 million ($48 million domestic) against a reported budget of roughly $28 million. The film, also starring Robert Pattinson, is a noteworthy win for original stories, as it wasn’t based on preexisting IP and/or serving to reboot a familiar franchise.

Interestingly, the latest Spider-Man, though squarely on the IP-focused side of the industry, is the clearest and most inarguable sign yet that things are going vey well at the box office, particularly here in the States. The Tom Holland-starrer was always going to put up gargantuan numbers, but even industry insiders had lowballed its opening week, as evidenced by it ultimately taking the crown from Avengers: Endgame with the biggest opening weekend in domestic box office history. And yes, the reviews were solid too.

Below, we take a look at how this compares to domestic box office history at large, all while aware that inflation and other factors aren’t accounted for in such lists.