Post Summary
Spider-Man: Brand New Day is coming soon to theaters. To promote the film they had a press conference with the cast and crew of the film. On the PC they had director Destin Daniel Cretton, Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jacob Batalon, Kevin Feige, Amy Pascal, Jon Bernthal, and Sadie Sink. The film releases in theaters on July 30th, 2026. Let’s dive into what they said during the press conference about the upcoming Marvel film!
5. Lots Of Praise For Destin Daniel Cretton
The cast and crew heaped praise on the director of the film. We’ve already seen his work in Marvel Studios projects like Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Wonder Man. To start off, Tom Holland had this to say about his work on the film.
I think that we are so lucky to have Destin as the captain of our ship. You know, he came into this process when the movie was going in 100 different directions, and really what we needed was someone to come in and focus us all on one idea.
What’s so amazing about Destin is that he’s able to do that and focus on this idea of what is life like for a young person who is alone. And that is something that people deal with all across the world. It doesn’t sacrifice the action. It doesn’t sacrifice the scope and scale of the movie. So if we didn’t have Destin, this movie wouldn’t be half of what it is.
4. What Does Brand New Day Even Mean?
Destin Daniel Cretton handled the question about what the subtitle of the film means. This is a brand new day for the character of Spider-Man, and it’s also a brand new day for the audience. Here’s what he had to say.
Brand New Day, I think, is something that Peter hasn’t quite learned yet at the beginning of this movie. I think it represents something that he is deep inside hoping for, and you will see that in many ways Peter’s character and many of the other characters in this movie find that feeling of a brand new day and a new start over the journey of this film.
3. Zendaya Acting Like She Doesn’t Know Peter
Zendaya has been a revelation as MJ in the Spider-Man movies and now she returns, but with a new wrinkle to her character. She doesn’t remember Peter Parker or any of the memories they’ve had together. She talked a bit about what that’s like as an actor to go through.
Yeah, I don’t know, I feel like it was fun. We kind of describe it as like, you know, it’s like a fun acting exercise. Like, okay, do the scene, but now as if you’ve never met before, you know? But it was fun to investigate and think about like what their lives have been like without Peter. ‘Cause, you know, for us, he never existed, you know, but clearly there’s an effect of Peter on our lives. The fact that we are even friends and still kind of living in New York together must mean something to them, you know.
And I think that, you know, in previous films MJ was always the pessimist and it was Peter that was always the optimist. And so it’s interesting to see that reversal. You know, now that he’s alone, he’s kind of adopted that negativity and she’s adopted his positivity without even knowing it.
So there’s clearly something still there. I mean, we always root for them and hope and, you know, because Peter is one of those characters you just love and you want them to make the right decisions.
And I think to what you’re saying, in the last film, he was cautioned, he was warned by the other Spider-men, what could happen. And I think in many ways this film is grappling with those ideas and really confronting the things that they warned him about, you know. So I’m rooting for him, but —
2. The Punisher Makes A PG-13 Turn In Brand New Day
Jon Bernthal makes his movie debut as The Punisher in Spider-Man: Brand New Day and its a different turn for the character. We recently saw him in the Disney+ special The Punisher: One Last Kill. Here’s what he had to say about the upcoming film.
Sure, look, I’m enormously protective of Frank and you know, the Punisher fans and what he stands for. And you know, that was a real question for me. And it’s such a testament to Destin and to Amy and to Kevin and to Tom and this entire group. It was a concern for them too. And I often think in art, when you get to sort of the crux of an issue, if you dive into it, if you don’t try to avoid it, if you don’t try to run away from it or if you treat the audience with the respect that they’re also going to have an issue with it, you get something really great.
And I’m so grateful to these guys that it was something that we explored and it was as important to them as it was to me. I think what we set out to do is to make it believable that the Punisher could walk out of one of those TV-MA shows and onto this set and vice versa. And I think you’re going to get that. While also just paying respect to this unbelievable tone of this film and what Destin did.
1. Sadie Sink’s Character Is Shrouded In Secrecy… Still
Sadie Sink’s character has been shrouded in secrecy since she was announced for the cast. They didn’t even have a character name listed for her on the sheet for the moderator of the panel. Here’s what she had to say about the secrecy and her character.
I didn’t have the script for a while, but I talked to Destin a bunch about the character, so I had a good idea of where things were going. Yeah, but it’s quite the secret I’ve had to keep, but I’m such a fan of Spider-Man, Tom’s Spider-Man especially, so it feels very surreal to be joining.
MODERATOR: Can you say anything about just the challenge in general ways of the character?
SADIE: No.
So yeah, they’re keeping it as close to the chest as possible about who Sadie is playing. For once in comic book movie history, we’re not getting completely spoiled about what a secret character is doing in the film. It’s a refreshing bit of business from Marvel and Sony.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day is hitting theaters on July 30th, 2026 and we can’t wait for it here at THS.
For more on Marvel, make sure to check back to That Hollywood Show.
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