The domestic box office has a new preview record. Sony and Marvel's "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" earned $72 million from preview screenings, which are ticket sales collected before a film's official opening day. The studios project the film will earn around $270 million domestically across its full debut weekend.
What a preview record actually measures
A preview record covers only the pre-opening-day gross, separate from the Friday-through-Sunday ticket sales that make up a full opening weekend. Domestic, in standard box office reporting, refers to the United States and Canada combined. The $72 million figure counts only North American preview ticket sales.
Preview numbers are the first concrete data of a wide release. They reflect how many audiences committed to buying tickets before the film's official opening day. Studios use those numbers to project how the remainder of the weekend will perform.
From preview record to weekend projection
Sony and Marvel project "Brand New Day" will earn around $270 million domestically over its full debut weekend. A projection is a forecast, not a confirmed gross. Opening-weekend totals are compiled after Sunday screenings close and typically published Monday morning.
The $72 million in previews already stands as a domestic record on its own. The $270 million projection would represent the full three-day opening weekend, once Friday, Saturday, and Sunday ticket sales are added to what the preview period produced.