- Spider-Man: Brand New Day becomes Marvel’s most successful movie, earning over a billion dollars in just six days worldwide.
- Destin Daniel Cretton, director of the hit film, is likely to return for Spider-Man 5, but first, he will direct a live-action Naruto adaptation in 2027.
- Marvel fans may have to wait longer for the Spider-Man sequel due to Cretton’s commitment to the anime film, potentially delaying the next installment in the franchise.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day is the most successful Marvel movie in a very long time. It only took the movie six days to make over a billion dollars worldwide. Outside of its global success, it’s also on track to be the first film to earn a billion dollars from only North American audiences. Much of this movie’s insane success is due to the hard work of Destin Daniel Cretton, who previously brought us the excellent Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. While he hasn’t been officially named as the director of Spider-Man 5, he is the first choice for both Marvel and Sony.
Given his clear love of the character, and the runaway success of Brand New Day, it’s a fair bet that Cretton will return to direct the Spider-Man sequel. That’s the good news. The bad news is that it’s going to be a long wait before Cretton can get back into the director’s chair for Marvel. Thanks to a previous deal with Lionsgate, he is going to spend the first half of 2027 directing the movie that pretty much nobody has asked for: a live-action adaptation of the anime Naruto!
An Annoying Delay
Destin Daniel Cretton has had a fairly topsy-turvy relationship with Marvel over the years. Back in 2021, Shang-Chiand the Legend of the Ten Rings proved to be so successful that the studio instantly greenlit a sequel. For reasons unknown, though, that sequel has been in development hell for half a decade. Originally, Cretton was offered a consolation prize: the opportunity to direct Avengers:The Kang Dynasty. However, Kang actor Jonathan Majors’ offscreen legal troubles caused Marvel to kill off his character and nix that movie entirely. Later, they offered Avengers: Doomsday to Cretton, but he turned that offer down.
The director recently revealed fears that refusing Doomsday would end his Marvel career. Fortunately, Kevin Feige offered him Spider-Man: Brand New Day; Cretton said yes, and the rest is box office history. Given the truckloads of cash that movie is bringing the studio, everyone is assuming that Cretton will be back to direct Spider-Man 5. The only real question is how long we’ll have to wait; will it be more like the two-year wait between Homecoming and Far From Home? Or more like the five-year wait between No Way Home and Brand New Day? Sadly, it will likely be a longer wait because Cretton is directing a live-action Naruto film next year.
This Anime Has Marvel Fans Crying
These days, Lionsgate would probably have a hard time affording to hire Cretton now that he’s one of the most successful directors in Hollywood. But the director inked his deal to direct Naruto before he signed up to direct Spider-Man: Brand New Day, so he’s going to spend the first half of 2027 working on the upcoming live-action anime. That’s bad news for Marvel fans, though, because it means that, at the absolute earliest, it would take Cretton about a year to start working on Spider-Man 5. In all likelihood, financial realities (like, say, negotiating a hefty new deal with Marvel) will delay things even further.
That delay isn’t necessarily a bad thing, of course. Spider-Man: Brand New Day probably wouldn’t have been so successful if audiences hadn’t had to wait half a decade for a sequel. Plus, Avengers: Secret Wars is going to reboot the entire MCU, so Marvel may want to let the dust settle (and perhaps let the X-Men make their proper debut) before bringing Peter Parker back for another solo film. That gives Destin Daniel Cretton plenty of time to finish his live-action anime adaptation before refocusing on superheroes. That leaves us with just one question for the director: in Spider-Man 5, can you please, please have our titular hero do the Naruto run?
