Spider-Man: Brand New Day is the film that quietly became the highest-grossing domestic release in American box-office history without ever settling whose story it's actually telling. Nearly five years after Peter Parker (Tom Holland) asked Doctor Strange to erase his identity from every mind on Earth, Destin Daniel Cretton's fourth MCU Spider-Man film picks him back up mid-repair, reconnecting with MJ (Zendaya) and Ned (Jacob Batalon) while a new, unexplained presence starts pulling the plot somewhere Peter didn't sign up for. Nine weeks after its July 31st release, Spider-Man: Brand New Day is still running across Thessaloniki's biggest cinemas, and Mood's own listings show it hasn't dropped out of the city's busiest current bookings.
A Franchise Film With an X-Men Problem
Sadie Sink plays the film's real wildcard: a young woman whose confused, body-jumping episodes dominate the film's midsection before she's revealed as Jean Grey, folding the X-Men into the MCU's main timeline for the first time on screen. Mark Ruffalo's Hulk and Jon Bernthal's Punisher both turn up along the way. It's a lot of universe for one film to carry, and reviewers have largely agreed on where it strains: for long stretches, Brand New Day stops being a Spider-Man film and starts being a Jean Grey introduction that happens to have Peter Parker in it.
Where the Verdict Splits
The disagreement over Brand New Day isn't really about whether it works, audiences have already made that call, pushing the film to a 98% Rotten Tomatoes audience score, a record for any Holland-era Spider-Man film. It's about what the film is actually for. Critics landed at 90%, the lowest of the four films, and the specific complaints line up with each other: Matthew Liedke, reviewing the film on his own site at 2.5 out of 5, argued its two-and-a-half-hour runtime "doesn't quite earn" itself, padded out by a Hulk cameo that exists mainly to "show off some Hulk action" and a Punisher subplot with no organic reason to be there. RogerEbert.com's review lands on similar ground, calling it an "ambitious but inconsistent sequel" - generous about Holland's more grounded performance this time around, less convinced the film knows which of its own stories it actually wants to finish.
Still Filling Thessaloniki Screens
None of that critical split has slowed the film's box office, and it hasn't slowed it down locally either. Mood's Thessaloniki listings currently carry 12 screenings of Spider-Man: Brand New Day this week, spread across three cinemas, Village Cinemas at Mediterranean Cosmos, Odeon Πλατεία and Cineplexx One Salonica, running from mid-afternoon through the evening slate at each. That's enough to place it fourth by volume across Mood's current Thessaloniki programme of 31 tracked titles, behind only Resident Evil (42 screenings, 6 cinemas) and Minions & Monsters (20 screenings, 3 cinemas), and just ahead of The Odyssey (15 screenings, 4 cinemas), Nolan's own long-legs epic, still drawing crowds nine weeks after its release in the same market. Against a citywide slate where most of the volume sits in franchise sequels and animated tentpoles, the handful of straight dramas still holding screens, Fjord, Hen and Gentle Monster among them, are the exception rather than the rule in a Thessaloniki multiplex week that Brand New Day currently sits near the top of.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Spider-Man: Brand New Day connected to the X-Men?
Yes. Sadie Sink's character is revealed halfway through as Jean Grey, marking the character's live-action entry into the MCU's main continuity rather than a separate X-Men timeline.
Who directed Spider-Man: Brand New Day?
Destin Daniel Cretton, who previously directed Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, directed the film from a script built around Peter Parker's post-No Way Home reset.
Where is Spider-Man: Brand New Day playing in Thessaloniki?
As of this week, Mood's Thessaloniki listings show it running at Village Cinemas at Mediterranean Cosmos, Odeon Πλατεία and Cineplexx One Salonica.
Is Spider-Man: Brand New Day worth seeing on the big screen?
Reviews split along a clear line: the action sequences and Holland's more grounded performance land, and audiences have responded with a record 98% on Rotten Tomatoes. Critics were more mixed at 90%, mostly on how much of the film Jean Grey's introduction takes over from Peter Parker's own arc.
For more of what's currently on across the city's screens, browse Thessaloniki's cinemas on Mood.
