Kevin Feige Addresses Spider-Man 5 and Sadie Sink's Jean Grey Future After Brand New Day's Record Opening

Kevin Feige has opened up on what comes next for the Spider-Man franchise following Spider-Man: Brand New Day's record breaking opening weekend, addressing Sadie Sink's future as Jean Grey, superhero fatigue, and why he never expected any Marvel movie to beat Avengers: Endgame's opening record. He said all of this to Variety in an interview that came out after Brand New Day's release, and there is a lot to break down.

The film itself is putting up numbers I did not expect. I told people a while back that I thought Brand New Day would land in the 1.7 billion range worldwide, and it has already far surpassed that. During the discussion it had already crossed 932 million and then passed 1 billion.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day Reached a Billion Dollars Faster Than Any Movie Before It

Spider-Man: Brand New Day reached a billion dollars faster than anybody had done it before. There is just not a lot of competition coming for a while, which is part of why this is happening.

What is also extraordinary is that Tom Holland, Zendaya, and Jon Bernthal each now individually have two billion dollar movies to their names within a short stretch of time. That is incredible to see happen basically at once.

Kevin Feige Says He Never Expected Anyone to Beat Endgame's Opening Record

Variety caught up with Feige following the Brand New Day opening and asked whether he ever imagined another MCU movie reaching and surpassing Avengers: Endgame's opening weekend. Feige said, "I didn't for all the reasons I didn't think anyone did because of COVID, because of the beating that theatrical took for so long. But once the bar had been raised, it could be raised again."

That bar has been raised before by Spider-Man specifically. The first movie to ever cross 100 million dollars over an opening weekend was Sam Raimi's Spider-Man. The first to cross 150 million in one weekend was Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 3. The first to reach 200 million was the original Avengers, and the first to hit 300 million was Endgame.

Feige continued, "It's a long winded way of saying I did not expect Endgame's record to be beaten, but I couldn't be happier that it was this past weekend by our 38th MCU movie. It's a testament to Destin Daniel Cretton, Tom Holland, Amy Pascal, Tom Rothman for letting us do this four times now, working to bring Spidey to the big screen. It's a testament to what Stan Lee and Steve Ditko did all those years ago. People can write about changing tastes, but as characters that grow and evolve throughout the decades, there are none better than a Marvel character and none better than Peter Parker. When you find an actor like Tom Holland to bring that to life, it's the magic formula."

Feige Points to Fantastic Four's Box Office When Asked About Superhero Fatigue

When Feige was asked about superhero fatigue and whether audiences need something new from these movies, he pointed to Fantastic Four, which he said looked and sounded like nothing that had been in a superhero movie before and still only grossed 521 million. He said Brand New Day is very directly a part of the same answer, since it picks up right after the events of No Way Home and tells a story that resonates, one that is ultimately about loneliness and the dangers of staying in our apartments by ourselves looking at our phones, which he said resonates across cultures and across the globe right now.

I think he kind of sidestepped the superhero fatigue question by leaning on Spider-Man's box office history, and to be fair, this is a hugely popular piece of IP, so of course it is going to draw people into theaters, especially as the fourth movie in this run. You do not have to do much homework going in. But you cannot say superhero fatigue is not a thing at all either. Look at how mediocre superhero movies have performed this year.

Thunderbolts and Fantastic Four were both genuinely good movies, but neither made money hand over fist. Audiences have to actually be interested in the specific movie now. It is not enough anymore for people to just go see something because it is a comic book movie.

Sadie Sink's Jean Grey Role Is Being Kept Under Wraps to Protect the X-Men Setup

Feige was also asked why it is so important to keep Sadie Sink's character under wraps. He said it is purely about creating the best possible opening weekend experience for the audience, and that her character is one fans know has immense significance within the Marvel universe, playing a key role in the future of the MCU. Anyone who has seen Brand New Day knows the storyline leads into more Spider-Man films and into another well known Marvel franchise created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, meaning the X-Men, where Sink will be front and center as Jean Grey.

I think Feige has been waiting a long time to get his hands back on X-Men, and it looks like they are casting the right age range for the right demographic and generation. Setting up Sadie Sink this way, and now having her lead in quite possibly the biggest superhero movie of all time, is going to help the X-Men movies land once she is front and center in them.

My Read on How the New X-Men Movies Are Being Built

I think the movie will be built around Jean Grey and Cyclops, who I believe will be the other lead cast alongside her, and I think that is exactly as it should be. I would also leave Wolverine out of the first movie entirely, maybe saving him for a post credits tease instead. I think that first film is simply going to be the formation of the X-Men, and I do not think we will see the new X-Men show up in Doomsday. I think we will see the old X-Men in Doomsday and the new team saved for Secret Wars, which would then catapult them into their own movie.

There is already the Samara Weaving casting to consider, and casting her this early implies there is a reason for it. Roxy brought up a friend of the show's theory that the age gap between a Jean Grey in her late teens or early twenties and an Emma Frost in her thirties could point to a storyline where Frost is a teacher whose students go missing, with the younger generation she is teaching including a Jean Grey who clearly does not have control of her anger yet, matching what we already saw of her in Spider-Man and needing to head to Xavier's school.

Where we disagreed a little was on Secret Wars itself. I think it would be a mistake, a genuinely stupid one, if the new X-Men are not put into Secret Wars at all, since that movie is supposed to end the multiverse chaos and settle everything onto one timeline. If they are going to be part of that timeline going forward, they need to be involved. Roxy agreed some of them should show up, though maybe not the entire roster, pointing out it is already not a clean stopping point before a clear new introduction.

When Could Spider-Man 5 Actually Arrive

As for Spider-Man 5, Feige would not be drawn on sharing much, saying there are always plans, but right now he and Zendaya are going to take a well earned rest after the global promotional tour. A fifth movie seems like a given after this success, and it is a little surprising an announcement has not already been made, but it is hard to imagine they do not have early plans in motion.

Homecoming came out in 2017, Far From Home in 2019, No Way Home in 2021, and now Brand New Day in 2026, so a five year gap did not hurt last time. I do not think we will see another five year wait though. That previous gap happened because everyone was still figuring out contracts and the MCU itself did not fully know where it was going yet. I think something closer to a three year turnaround is more likely now, but it cannot land before Secret Wars in 2027, since all the focus right now is on hard launching the X-Men and figuring out what happens with the Fantastic Four.

I cannot imagine them scrapping the Fantastic Four outright, but whether it gets another movie really depends on how those characters are received when they are front and center in the upcoming Avengers films. If it does not make the kind of money they hoped for, and I do not think the first one even turned a profit, there are only so many times a studio can try again before moving on. For Spider-Man 5 to hit even a 2029 window, filming would likely need to start next year, and Tom Holland is contractually locked into more movies regardless of what happens in his personal life, though it is unclear if Zendaya is locked in the same way.

Dave Bautista Is Reportedly in Talks to Replace Ryan Hurst as Kratos in the God of War Series

Guardians of the Galaxy star Dave Bautista is apparently in negotiations to play Kratos in the Amazon MGM Studios and Sony Pictures television adaptation of God of War. I am not certain if this is a rumor or something already locked in, but it looks like he is going to play it, and honestly, it feels like perfect casting if it happens.

Bautista would take over the lead role from Ryan Hurst, who was originally set to play Kratos before he reportedly tore a bicep performing a stunt on set in late June, months into the shoot. The series reportedly paused production immediately following the injury and remains on hiatus. Recovery for a serious bicep tear is usually four to six months, with full strength taking up to a year to return, and Sony Pictures Television and Amazon MGM reportedly decided the production schedule simply could not accommodate a year long wait given how physically demanding the role is.

Bautista is seen as ideal because his wrestling background lets him step into a physically demanding role like Kratos with limited preparation time given the tight schedule, and he recently wrapped the Highlander remake as well. Prep is expected to begin in mid August for a mid October production start in Vancouver, where the show is based, with both seasons reportedly still being shot back to back as originally planned.

I think this is a happy accident for Amazon born out of an unfortunate injury. I believe they liked working with Hurst and will probably find a way to take care of him with a role down the line, but they could not afford to wait that long once the injury happened. My honest read is that Hurst really did get hurt, but that the studio may have already been second guessing the original casting and used the injury as an out, since Bautista's build and energy is dramatically different and closer to what people picture Kratos as, even though he is seven years older than Hurst.

Amy Pascal Says a New James Bond Announcement Is a Good Bet Before Year's End

Producer Amy Pascal has indicated there is a good bet the casting of the new Bond will be announced before the year is out, and coming from her specifically, that carries real weight. Pascal and David Heyman took over as producers on the series after MGM Studios acquired creative control over the franchise, with Denis Villeneuve set to direct, and the next round of auditions and screen tests were reportedly scheduled for this month.

Speaking with Deadline while promoting Brand New Day, Pascal said, "I would say the end of the year is a good bet. We are being really really methodical having worked with Barbara Broccoli at the studio. I mean Daniel Craig is a hard act to follow and it's gonna be something really different that is stirring and exciting and different."

Jacob Elordi, Callum Turner, and Harris Dickinson have been among the names rumored for the role, though Dickinson has reportedly ruled himself out of the running for some time now, with Turner seemingly emerging as the bookies favorite in recent weeks. Out of the three, I would only want two of them as Bond, and there is one I am specifically hoping for. I think Elordi would be a terrible choice, not because of his acting, but because he is six foot five, and watching a Bond that size just kick villains away in hand to hand fights would look silly. Elordi is also the most famous name of the three already, and I think the other two deserve the chance to become a household name through Bond the way Daniel Craig did, since Craig was not a big name before he took the role.

Ready Player 2 Writer Zak Penn Gives an Update, But It May Not Mean Much Yet

Ready Player One writer Zak Penn confirmed a sequel is still in development, telling The Direct in an interview, "I'm working on it." That reportedly marks the most significant update on the sequel's development in roughly two years. In the same interview, Penn addressed a possible Free Guy sequel and said he was unsure of its status, explaining that director Shawn Levy and star Ryan Reynolds felt really good about that film and did not want to rush a follow up.

I do not think the Ready Player 2 update really means much yet. Penn is a writer, not an executive, so a studio can simply ask him to turn in a draft without that meaning the movie is actually happening. I saw this constantly when I worked at a studio, with writers turning in draft after draft on projects like Sergeant Rock or Altered Carbon that never got made. Penn is also not going to be the one to announce the sequel is not happening, so of course he is going to say he is working on it.

Ready Player One had a 175 million dollar budget and grossed 583 million dollars worldwide, so it made money, though from what I have heard, a lot of people were more disappointed in the second book compared to the first.

What do you think, is Callum Turner the right call for Bond, and should the new X-Men show up in Secret Wars at all?