Brand New Day may go down in history as one of the best Spider-Man movies, but once it was simply a work in progress. During the movie’s press tour, Tom Holland spoke about there being some less-than-desirable test screenings during post-production. But it led the movie’s director to need to set something straight about his comments. Let’s get into it.
What Tom Holland Said About Brand New Day Test Screenings
Tom Holland was more involved than ever with Brand New Day (and he reportedly received a huge pay bump, too). And that means he was present during some test screenings – which is when the studio invites people to watch an unfinished cut and provide feedback. First, here’s what Holland told Quotable:
We’ve seen loads of different cuts of this movie, and one of the cuts, they took all of the notes from all of the random people [at test screenings] who saw the film. And then they changed the movie, and we watched it, and we hated it. It totally didn’t work. It was what the people were asking for, but it wasn’t quite what we wanted as the creatives. But they learned lessons from that experience, so a movie can change in a thousand different ways in the edit room.
It sounds like the production played around a lot with how to cut the movie after filming wrapped in late 2025. And in one instance, the editorial team apparently decided to completely cater to reactions from the screenings that had happened. Holland said this exercise “totally didn’t work” and reminded the filmmakers that there has to be a line between following feedback and going with their own gut.
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How The Director Set The Rumors Straight
Tom Holland’s comments in context really don’t speak ill of Brand New Day. But I’d guess a lot of people read that those early screenings were bad and ran with it. Here’s how director Destin Daniel Cretton addressed his star’s comments:
You try things. Sometimes they work. Sometimes they don’t. The screening that he called a disaster still scored in the 90s and is actually not that different than the movie that’s out. But we were trying some things. We overcut it. I would run down that road but I don’t want to tell you something false.
While some films are made with a specific vision for every shot from start to finish by the filmmakers, Marvel Studios’ movies famously change a lot throughout production. Oftentimes that’s why additional photography happens, too. In the case of Brand New Day, Cretton clarified that the test screenings he was talking about still scored quite high among audiences.
Perhaps from Holland’s perspective, the movie that catered to audiences just was not at all on the same level as other versions. While it may sound like Holland is talking about a whole different take on the movie, his director seems to be saying that it was essentially the same movie, just with edits in different places here and there. As Cretton also added to The Wrap:
We’re just trying to find the best version of the movie, and to me that is the living, breathing part of the movie. Sometimes you finish a screening and you’re just like, Damn, that sucked. But then the audience tells you something a little different, and something in your gut is just like, Oh, that did not feel good. That happens to me all the time.
Ultimately, Brand New Day’s reviews were off-the-charts good once it came out, and the movie has become the highest-grossing release among 2026 movies so far. But Avengers: Doomsday could top it, given early sales projections.
Anyway, Brand New Day is still in theaters if you want to experience the latest Spidey film on the big screen.