“Spider-Man: Brand New Day” and “The Odyssey” assembled Avengers-style to power the biggest movie weekend ever for the domestic box office. But beyond the dollar signs, do these films about an angsty superhero and a brooding Greek king have anything in common?
Well, “Tomdaya,” of course.
The portmanteau of Tom Holland, 30, and Zendaya, 29, has been scrawled across the internet since they met during the casting process for “Spider-Man: Homecoming” (2017). A decade later, Gen Z’s fandom for the couple, now married, has grown even stronger.
The actors and sweethearts helped draw young audiences to “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” which set a box-office record with $360 million domestically, and “The Odyssey,” the epic that keeps on giving. Both movies are nearing $1 billion in global ticket sales.
It’s another positive sign of post-pandemic box-office recovery, which continues to be led by younger generations of theatergoers.
Caught in a ‘Spider-Man’ Web
“Spider-Man: Brand New Day” is Holland and Zendaya’s fourth Spider-Man film together, and their first since the “Home” trilogy wrapped in 2021. That year, the co-stars, playing the superhero and his quick-witted love interest, MJ, went public with their relationship.
“Brand New Day,” a superhero movie guided more by sentiment than spectacle, dethroned “Avengers: Endgame” ($357 million) for the largest domestic box-office haul on an opening weekend, not accounting for inflation.
According to Sony, which distributed the movie, young adults drove turnout. Of ticket buyers, 61 percent were between the ages of 18 and 34, while 48 percent were under 25. (Gen Z covers people born between 1997 and 2012, making them about 14 to 29 today.)
Greg Durkin, the founder of Enact Insight, an entertainment research firm, said in an email that the movie “had broad audience appeal, with extra love from Gen Z.” Durkin previously told The New York Times that casting was a factor driving that generation’s interest.
The movie’s inclusion of Sadie Sink, 24, whose star rose on the Netflix series “Stranger Things,” may also have increased the youth appeal.
Epic Turns in ‘The Odyssey’
The director Christopher Nolan recruited Holland — evidently to the actor’s surprise — to portray Telemachus, the plucky prince of Ithaca, in “The Odyssey,” Nolan’s take on the ancient Greek poem. Zendaya has less screen time than Holland but is memorable as the goddess Athena, who is Odysseus’ spiritual guide on his yearslong journey home from war.
“The Odyssey,” which also stars Matt Damon and Anne Hathaway, is the first feature film to be shot entirely with IMAX cameras, driving cinephiles to travel across state and even international borders. The movie opened to about $124 million at the domestic box office.
But Wait, There’s More
Zendaya is having a huge year after portraying a woman whose upcoming wedding is shaken by a teenage secret in “The Drama.” A24, the movie’s producer and distributor, said in an email that the film’s viewership skewed young, with more than 80 percent of its audience under the age of 35. (“The Drama,” as well as “The Odyssey,” also stars Robert Pattinson, who has declared himself a member of Gen Z despite being 40 years old. In his words: “It doesn’t matter.”)
Later this year, Pattinson will reunite with Zendaya in “Dune: Part Three,” a sandswept science fiction opera directed by Denis Villeneuve whose predecessors grossed a combined $1 billion worldwide.
The next “Dune” film could benefit by its release date: Dec. 18, when “Avengers: Doomsday” will also be released. In “Barbenheimer” fashion, it’s being called “Dunesday.”
Holland’s Spider-Man is not listed on the “Doomsday” roster, but fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe think he could make a surprise appearance or a cameo in a post-credits scene. It would be yet another opening-day hurrah for Tomdaya.
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