Disney Headlines for August 4th, 2026

Spider-Man once again does whatever a spider can, which is apparently wreck the box office.

Also, Disney may have acknowledged the reality about its Linear Networks division. We’ll discuss both in this week’s Disney Headlines.

People Like Tom Holland

Heading into this year, I thought three films had a chance to win the box office. Toy Story 5 is currently doing just that with $1.065 billion in box office.

Later this year, Avengers: Doomsday is sure to blow past that total. In truth, one film I’d underestimated may yet as well, as The Odyssey is excelling.

I thought the Christopher Nolan flick would perform well, just not…this.

Then, we have the other title in the conversation, the one that just debuted.

Eighteen months ago, I was all sorts of nervous about Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Sony was making the movie just to make a Spider-Man movie, and that’s never good.

In fact, 2007’s Spider-Man 3 and 2014’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2 both made that mistake. Sony never learns, but they got lucky this time, as Brand New Day is excellent.

Given the state of Sony’s Spider-Man Universe at the end of 2024, I never would have guessed that.

The delays on Brand New Day didn’t help anything, as this whole project felt disastrous.

Thankfully, Sony did something right in hiring Destin Daniel Cretton.

He overcame all the Sony-ness and returned a film that audiences are loving.

Brand New Day currently claims a Rotten Tomatoes score of 90 percent with an Audience Score of 98 percent. Those numbers mirror Spider-Man: No Way Home’s 93 percent and 97 percent.

The fourth Tom Holland-as-Spider-Man film also earned an A Cinemascore. Also, Brand New Day can claim something that No Way Home cannot.

That’s a Big Number

I say this because Spider-Man: Brand New Day just became the second film to open over $300 million with an opening weekend of $355 million.

The only other title to do it is a little movie called Avengers: Endgame, which Brand New Day only missed by $2 million.

So, Spidey is swinging through some rare air this week.

In fact, once we factor in No Way Home’s $257.7 million opening, Peter Parker’s looking even better.

The most recent two Spider-Man movies have now earned two of the top three opening weekends ever. Notably, the top four consists entirely of Marvel movies as well as titles with Tom Holland in them.

However, two of the three films are Sony releases through the Spider-Man license. Disney will still profit mightily from this film, as it gets 25 percent of the revenue.

You may remember the 2019 brouhaha when Sony and Disney were feuding.

Both corporations are thrilled that they kissed and made up, especially after this weekend.

No Way Home earned $1.9 billion worldwide, which is eighth all time.

Remarkably, Brand New Day is currently pacing to beat and maybe even torch that total.

This sort of opening weekend is nothing short of mythic, especially in the post-pandemic era. Before Brand New Day, the biggest post-pandemic opening weekend was Deadpool & Wolverine’s $211 million.

That performance almost seems quaint by comparison. Disney will benefit mightily from Sony’s success, as it’ll net several hundred million in pure profit.

That’s just the box office aspect. Just think about what this is doing for Spider-Man merch!

Yes, we’re in another summer of Spidey, and this one may last through the holidays. Expect to see tons of Spider-Man requests on Christmas lists this year.

It Begins

Last June, I wrote this article wherein I called Bob Iger a big, fat liar. Okay, I’m putting words in my own mouth, but that was definitely what I was thinking.

I may not have said it in so many words, but I didn’t believe Iger at all. Even though he was leaving Disney soon, Iger doubled down on Linear Networks.

This division, the one where he originally made his name, isn’t just dying. It’s dead.

The doctor hasn’t called it yet, but the patient is no longer moving.

Iger knows this, but he just couldn’t bring himself to pull the trigger on a deal.

At some point, Disney should have sold or spun off its Linear Networks core.

Comcast did it with Versant, and Warner Bros. Discovery was planning to do it before Paramount won the bidding war. Businesses in the same position as Disney have seen the writing on the wall.

Iger did, too, as he’d previously gone on CNBC and started an Everything Must Go sale. After receiving a few bids, he reconsidered, leaving Disney squarely in the cable business.

Recently, Disney even acquired the NFL Network, which means it’s adding, not subtracting.

Well, it had been. Then, Disney sold its remaining stake in A+E Global Media.

Now, the writing’s on the wall that Josh D’Amaro may feel differently.

To be fair, this particular transaction began while Iger was still in charge. He’d been trying to ditch A+E for a while, as it doesn’t fit with Disney’s other offerings.

What’s Next?

Disney has developed an odd system wherein it markets content to multiple generations.

Market research indicates that the demographics blend perfectly for the time being.

Disney can sell cable content to older consumers and streaming services to people under 35. Yes, there’s some spillover both ways, but that’s the sloppy math of the situation.

This strategy only works for content that people want to watch, though. Unfortunately, A+E is no longer that but rather a compilation of dead reality franchises.

So, this cut was so easy that even Iger could accept the need for it.

The next ones won’t be, which will make D’Amaro’s job challenging.

He must determine the best time to pull the plug on Linear Networks.

Once he does, he must decide how to do it, which will be messy.

Should Disney spin off everything or keep some key assets like Comcast did? What should happen with ESPN? That’s the multi-billion-dollar question.

And I’m asking these things before I factor in Disney’s current tiff with the FCC’s commissioner. You can understand why the announcement of this deal triggered tons of speculation on Wall Street.

Everyone’s wondering whether Disney is laying the groundwork to make a big move.

With the earnings call tomorrow, nobody is expecting anything yet…but they are curious.

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Feature Photo: Marvel