Ravi Ahuja also spoke about how Netflix global streaming pay-one deal lets studio take 'creative risk,' and why SPE isn't interested in large-scale M&A The stunning box-office success of “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” stems from the movie’s emotional impact — which is unlike other recent superhero movies, according to Sony Pictures Entertainment chairman and CEO Ravi Ahuja. Ahuja exulted in the blockbuster’s record-breaking run, which has smashed box office expectations by raking in more than $2.4 billion worldwide, ranking as the third-biggest theatrical release ever. We obviously hadn’t forecast that.
We thought it would do incredibly well, but we didn’t know that would do that well,” said Ahuja, speaking Wednesday at the BofA Securities 2026 Media, Communications & Entertainment Conference in New York. Ahuja said that with “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” “really everybody came together to create a great thing.” But, he added, “the movie itself is very emotional… So a little bit different to what some of the more recent superhero movies have been. Still very much a superhero movie — there are a lot of big action scenes.
Some people come away crying, so that is something clearly that resonated with the audience.” “Brand New Day’s” high audience Rotten Tomato and CinemaScore ratings come down to “the incredible creative team.” That includes director Destin Daniel Cretton and the cast led by Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jacob Batalon, John Bernthal and Sadie Sink. Ahuja said “Spider-Man” is one of SPE’s three biggest franchises, alongside “Jeopardy!” and “Wheel of Fortune.” About Spider Man, he said, “there’s so much appeal to the character of Peter Parker, right? So much appeal to the character, but you got to execute it right.
And this movie really did.” When’s the next one coming out? Ahuja said, “We don’t have a date for it yet. Usually, but there’s a Spider-Verse movie coming next year.” Ahuja also spoke about the advantage Sony Pictures Entertainment has with its position as an “arms dealer” to the rest of the industry, because it’s an independent studio that doesn’t have a general-entertainment streaming arm.
And he also said SPE isn’t interested in engaging with large-scale M&A at this point. The CEO addressed Sony Pictures Entertainment’s exclusive worldwide pay-one windowing output deal with Netflix, after theatrical and home entertainment, which was the first of its kind in the industry. So by being dedicated to theatrical, it creates a very high bar for the movies that you can make.
For example, we can’t make 30 or 40 movies, right? You can make about a dozen really big movies because they all have to meet that threshold, and there’s a lot of marketing, right, that follows it,” Ahuja said. It also says as an independent studio, we’re able to do a deal like that.
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