World Movie News: The Last 24 Hours
The Spider-Man numbers just keep climbing, there’s a new name attached to a music biopic, and the UK’s own festival season is starting to come into focus. Here’s what’s happened in film over the last 24 hours.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day is now officially one of the surprise stories of the summer. After racking up an unprecedented $72 million in Thursday US previews — smashing the record previously held by Avengers: Endgame — the film pulled in more than $167 million on Friday alone, the biggest single day in box office history. Sony’s tracking now points to a domestic weekend north of $300 million, with some forecasters not ruling out a run at Endgame‘s all-time opening record of $357 million, and a global debut approaching $425–465 million. And us Brits, who’ve had the film since Wednesday, have already helped build that overseas total, with Odeon and Cineworld reporting some of their busiest premium-format weekends of the year. Tom Holland and Zendaya — married since earlier this year — now have the unusual distinction of topping the US box office simultaneously, with “The Odyssey” holding a strong second place in its third weekend.
On the casting front, John Legend is set to play Harry Belafonte in The Road Home, a biopic centred on Belafonte’s role in the anti-apartheid movement and his friendship with Hugh Masekela. It’s Legend’s first major dramatic film role and adds another music biopic to a crowded 2026–27 slate.
Ahead of Locarno’s opening next week, attention in the UK is turning to Edinburgh, where the 79th Edinburgh International Film Festival is confirmed to run August 13–19 — the first major UK festival date on the calendar since Cannes back in May, and one local exhibitors are hoping will give a late-summer boost to arthouse and independent releases after a season dominated by tentpoles.
On the industry side, Hollywood is remembering Dixon Dern, the influential entertainment lawyer who helped structure Desilu Productions’ business affairs for Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz and later played a key role in the founding of Creative Artists Agency. Dern, who also represented Bob Hope, Jackie Gleason and the Television Academy over a seven-decade career, has died at 97.
Indian cinema, meanwhile, is still mourning Suneil Anand — actor, director, and the only son of Bollywood legend Dev Anand — who died last week at 70 after a suspected heart attack in London; tributes have continued from across the Navketan Films family and the wider industry.
That’s all for today. Enjoy your weekend movie-watching. More as the full weekend numbers land Monday.
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