Sony Launches Best Picture Oscar Campaign for “Spider-Man: Brand New Day”
Sony Pictures is mounting a full awards campaign to push “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” into the Best Picture race at the 99th Academy Awards, studio chairman and chief executive Tom Rothman told Deadline this week — betting that the biggest box-office hit of the year deserves a place among the ten nominees.
Rothman did not hide his ambition. “The Academy is meant to recognize greatness. So, to be honest, I think it’s greatness,” he said. “If there aren’t people thinking about it, we’re gonna do what we can just to make people think about it.”
Then came his challenge to skeptics: “Are you telling me that there are 10 films this year that are better than this film?”
A “robust” campaign, starting before Thanksgiving
According to Deadline, Sony has hired awards consultants and is planning an extensive screening program that begins just before Thanksgiving. The schedule includes multiple “For Your Consideration” question-and-answer sessions with the filmmakers and department heads, with Rothman himself hosting screenings and tastemaker events on both coasts of the United States.
Screenings are planned for Los Angeles and New York, as well as London, Paris, Madrid, Copenhagen, Rome, Mexico City, Berlin and Tokyo, according to reporting on the campaign. The film will also return to theaters on December 4 in a re-release featuring footage that was not included in the original cut — a move aimed at Academy voters who have not yet seen it on the big screen.
The campaign is a serious financial commitment. Rothman, who founded Fox Searchlight, the specialty studio behind three Best Picture winners, argued that it is incumbent on studios behind big commercial films to make the case for them. He pointed to the Academy’s expansion of the Best Picture field from five nominees to ten — a change made after Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight” was famously snubbed — and name-checked “F1,” “Barbie,” “Wicked” and “Bohemian Rhapsody” as crowd-pleasers that earned nominations.
The numbers behind the pitch
Rothman’s case rests on numbers few films can match. “Brand New Day,” directed by Destin Daniel Cretton and released on July 31, 2026, has earned more than $2.5 billion worldwide, making it the highest-grossing film of 2026 by more than $736 million over the year’s second-biggest earner.
The film opened with a record $168 million on its first day in the United States and Canada, topping the $157 million opening Friday posted by “Avengers: Endgame.” It passed $1 billion worldwide in six days, the second-fastest run to that mark behind “Endgame.”
Critics have been broadly positive, if not unanimous. The film holds a 90 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes, with an average audience rating of 7.6 out of 10, and a 66 out of 100 on Metacritic. Variety’s review described it as a mature but arduous adventure with strong action, a reminder that the campaign is selling a popular hit rather than a critical consensus favorite.
For Tom Holland, the film caps an extraordinary year. His other 2026 release, “The Odyssey,” helped that film become the highest-grossing R-rated movie in history at about $1.8 billion. “Brand New Day” is his fourth solo outing as Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The long odds
A nomination remains a long shot. Awards forecasters at Gold Derby rank “Brand New Day” around 33rd to 36th in the Best Picture race, with roughly a 0.46 percent chance of a nomination. Only two superhero films have ever been nominated for Best Picture: “Black Panther” in 2018 and “Joker” in 2019. And of the eight live-action Spider-Man films, only “Spider-Man 2” has won an Oscar, for visual effects.
There is also a scheduling question. Holland and Zendaya, who stars opposite him, may have limited availability for the campaign: both are involved in awards pushes for their other work, Holland for “The Odyssey” and Zendaya for “Dune: Part Three.”
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Rothman acknowledged the skepticism, aiming part of his frustration at prediction sites such as Gold Derby, which he said tend to focus on the art-house world. “I think Academy members would be interested in this because it’s very significant from a storytelling movie,” he told Deadline.
Why this matters
The campaign is a test of whether the Academy’s expanded Best Picture field can make room for the year’s defining commercial success. Since the field grew to ten slots, blockbusters have occasionally broken through — but no superhero film has won the prize, and the genre’s two nominations remain the exception rather than the rule.
For Sony, the stakes go beyond one trophy. A nomination would validate a strategy built around theatrical scale at a time when studios are debating how much awards prestige still matters to audiences. For the Academy, the question Rothman keeps asking — whether ten better films really exist this year — is the same one voters will have to answer when ballots go out.
Latest developments
The screening program is set to begin in the days before Thanksgiving, with the December 4 re-release following close behind. The 99th Academy Awards nominations will be announced in early 2027, and Sony’s consultants will spend the intervening weeks pressing the film’s case to voters in the United States and abroad.
Whether the campaign moves the needle will become clear as critics’ awards and guild nominations roll in over the coming weeks — the early indicators of whether Academy voters are taking the biggest movie of the year seriously as a Best Picture contender.
Ebenezer, Ti West’s dark Dickens adaptation starring Johnny Depp, opened in theaters on Friday, as awards season heats up.
Elsewhere in franchise news, Elijah Wood said 27 years disappeared the moment he became Frodo again in The Hunt for Gollum.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” nominated for Best Picture?
Not yet. Sony has launched a campaign to win the film a nomination at the 99th Academy Awards, but nominations have not been announced. Awards forecasters currently give it long odds.
What did Tom Rothman say about the film?
Speaking to Deadline, Rothman called the film “greatness” and challenged skeptics: “Are you telling me that there are 10 films this year that are better than this film?”
How much has “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” earned?
More than $2.5 billion worldwide, making it the highest-grossing film of 2026. It opened with a record $168 million first day in the United States and Canada.
When is the “Brand New Day” re-release?
Sony plans to re-release the film in theaters on December 4, with footage that was not included in the original release.
Has a superhero movie ever won Best Picture?
No. Only two superhero films — “Black Panther” and “Joker” — have ever been nominated for Best Picture, and neither won.
Sony’s campaign is now under way, and the Academy’s answer to Rothman’s question will arrive when the nominations are announced. Until then, the biggest movie of the year is also the most unlikely Best Picture hopeful — and, by design, the one everyone in Hollywood is talking about.
