Spider-Man: Brand New Day is off to an exceptionally strong start by any normal standard. Tom Holland’s fourth solo outing opened to $360 million domestically, enough to take the opening weekend record from Avengers: Endgame, and its global haul of $932 million has it on pace to cross $1 billion within days.
Which makes it almost fitting that the strangest story of the film’s release so far has nothing to do with box office milestones. As reported by the New York Post, on Aug. 2, a screening of Brand New Day at the Cine Colombia multiplex in the Plaza Bocagrande shopping center in Cartagena, Colombia, was evacuated after an odor described in reports as “rotten” spread through the auditorium about halfway into the film.
Reportedly, the theater never stopped the projector. The movie apparently played on to the credits in a mostly empty room, as much of the audience understandably chose to cut their losses and come back another day. Some reports have floated the possibility of a stink bomb prank, while others suggest it may simply have been a patron who lost a battle with their own body. No culprit has been identified, theater staff reportedly said they had no idea who was responsible, and the cinema itself does not appear to have issued any public statement. In the absence of an official explanation, the internet has been more than happy to fill the vacuum.
Footage of the evacuation went viral quickly, helped considerably by the fact that one of the displaced viewers was dressed in a full Spider-Man costume and was captured on his phone mid-crisis. The jokes more or less wrote themselves.
Another commentator on X said, “Green Goblin wishes he had this kind of chemical warfare.” Others were somewhat less amused by the whole affair. “There’s no respect anymore, but I don’t think anyone is so rotten as to evacuate an entire auditorium,” one commenter said, while another added, “Another reason why I haven’t been to a movie theater in six years, despite being a film fanatic.”
Several viewers reportedly crowned the anonymous offender the film’s real “villain,” which may be a little harsh on whoever Spider-Man actually fights in the movie. Shared moviegoing has always included the risk of other humans, whether that means talkers, phone screens, or, in this case, something considerably worse, and audiences have apparently decided the trade-off is still worth it. One evacuated screening is unlikely to register against a billion-dollar run.
Sony would presumably rather be fielding this headline than many of the alternatives. Brand New Day now trails only Endgame for the biggest global opening ever. IMAX showings begin Aug. 7, alongside the 70MM run of Nolan’s The Odyssey, and the film has set a high bar for Avengers: Doomsday in December.
- Release Date
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August 14, 1987
- Runtime
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92 minutes
- Director
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Amos Gitai
