Previews reached $72M and the weekend is tracking above $330M. Shut out of IMAX, Sony built its lineup from ScreenX, 4DX, Dolby Cinema and HDR by Barco. In a market where premium formats take 15.6% of the North American box office, the vendor holding the specification sets the price
Two of the four are Korean. In a market where premium formats take 15.6% of the domestic box office, whoever owns the spec sets the price.
K-MovieTech — Korea's cinema-format and exhibition-technology sector, spanning CJ 4DPLEX's ScreenX and 4DX and Samsung's Onyx cinema LED.
A scene from “Spider-Man: Brand New Day.” The swing across the New York skyline is one of the sequences selected for ScreenX expansion. Photo: Sony Pictures
Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios’ “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” took $167 million to $173 million in North America on opening day including previews. That breaks the $157.4 million set by “Avengers: Endgame” in 2019. Previews accounted for $72 million.
Jung Han
The record was set without IMAX. Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” has held a four-week domestic IMAX exclusivity since July 17, so Sony assembled its premium large format lineup from CJ 4DPLEX’s ScreenX and 4DX, Dolby Cinema and HDR by Barco.
PLF auditoriums accounted for 15.6 percent of the North American box office in 2024. At Cinemark, 6 percent of screens produced 14 percent of global box office. Each format demands its own preparation: IMAX needs its cameras or an aspect-ratio conversion, Dolby Cinema and HDR by Barco each need a grade to their specification, 4DX needs an effects pass. ScreenX went further this time and put a crew on set. Which formats a release secures, and what it prepares for them, shapes the composition of its opening weekend.
Two of the formats used here come from Korea’s CJ 4DPLEX: ScreenX and 4DX. In the projection layer, Samsung’s Onyx LED and Belgium-based Barco’s HDR by Barco are competing with IMAX and Dolby.
The formats “Brand New Day” actually played
Sony prepared every format except IMAX. It took a ScreenX crew on set, ran a separate grade for HDR by Barco, and completed a Dolby Vision grade and a 4DX effects pass. CNBC reported that “Brand New Day” played ScreenX, 4DX, Dolby Cinema and HDR by Barco alongside the proprietary premium brands of AMC, Regal, Cinemark and regional operators. Preparation and opening results by format are below.
Sources: CNBC, Deadline, Variety, Forbes, CJ 4DPLEX and Barco announcements
$72M in previews, $167M on day one
Sony’s first count on Thursday evening was $50 million. Deadline reported that late-night walk-up sales pushed the final figure to $72 million. The previous marks were Endgame at $60 million and “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” at $57 million in 2015.
The preview total included Amazon Prime member screenings held on Wednesday, July 29. Advance sales reached $80 million and the promotional partner campaign $309 million, a Hollywood record. Net production cost is $225 million.
Excluding previews, Friday is estimated at about $95 million. Deadline put the three-day domestic total above $330 million across 4,487 theaters. Endgame’s opening weekend record stands at $357.1 million. Pre-release forecasts diverged: NRG projected $195 million, while exhibitors and Greenlight Analytics projected $260 million to $300 million.
Films opening above $100M on day one, previews included · North America
Source: Deadline, July 31, 2026
Audience scores came in at 98 percent from Rotten Tomatoes audiences and 90 percent from critics, with an A CinemaScore. The audience figure is the highest of the nine live-action Spider-Man films. PostTrak exit polling returned five stars from general audiences, parents and children under 12.
Amazon Prime member screenings
Amazon gave Prime members the option to buy tickets to July 29 early screenings, announced with its June Prime Day promotions. Sales ran through a dedicated Amazon.com page operated with Fandango. The July 27 red-carpet premiere was carried live on Amazon Live, Prime Video, Twitch and IMDb. Amazon used the same arrangement for “Project Hail Mary” and “The Mandalorian and Grogu.”
Endgame’s previews were restricted to a 6 p.m. Thursday start. This time the Wednesday member screenings and Thursday noon showtimes both counted as previews. Sony has no consumer streaming service and licenses its output to Netflix and Prime Video. Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Rentrak, called preview demand above $70 million unprecedented, and said that concentration in previews and opening day can change how the full weekend resolves.
Size of the premium large format market
PLF auditoriums took 15.6 percent of the North American box office in 2024. The global PLF market is projected to grow from $1.85 billion in 2024 to $4.11 billion by 2034. Cinemark’s FY2026 proxy statement reports that PLF auditoriums produced 14 percent of global box office on 6 percent of its screens. D-BOX motion seat revenue rose 40 percent year over year.
IMAX operated 1,798 systems in 91 countries as of March 2026, with $1.4 billion in global box office for the year. “The Odyssey” took $81.4 million of an early $264.1 million worldwide total from IMAX. “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” took about $15 million from IMAX in its opening weekend. “Brand New Day” set its opening-day record without access to a channel of that size.
Image and projection: HDR by Barco and LED screens enter
Omdia reports that IMAX laser leads the extended dynamic range field, with Dolby Cinema behind it. China’s Cinity is expanding, and LED screen installations are rising. China has begun a regulation-driven LED rollout.
HDR by Barco, one of the formats “Brand New Day” played, is the late entrant here. It uses Lightsteering, the technology Barco acquired with Canada’s MTT Innovation in 2016, which redistributes light across the screen to produce highlights more than six times brighter than conventional projection while holding detail in the darks. It is the first projection system classified as HDR. Barco supplies it as a package built on the Series 4 LS4K laser projector with a dedicated lens, media server and calibration camera.
The format reached 50 screens last year, against 1,798 IMAX systems — an early-stage footprint. Sites have opened in the UK, Italy and Germany, with Vue Amsterdam the first in the Netherlands. As with Dolby Cinema, a film has to be graded for the format before it can play, so studios select titles for it one by one. Four Sony titles including “Brand New Day” were confirmed at CinemaCon in April, followed in May by five from Universal Pictures and Focus Features.
Samsung Electronics added a 14-meter (46-foot) size to its Onyx LED lineup at CinemaCon 2026 in April, joining the existing 5- and 10-meter models. Pixel pitch is 3.3mm, and cabinets can be added at the sides and bottom to extend the display to 20 meters. It supports 4K at 120Hz and reaches 300 nits, about six times conventional cinema standards, with 100 percent color volume at peak brightness and an infinite contrast ratio. Onyx is the first DCI-certified cinema LED display and works with Dolby and GDC media servers. Brightness stays uniform regardless of screen size or seat position, which also suits live sports and concert screenings. Samsung has been building cinema LED since 2017, and recent installations include Pathé Dar Essalam in Rabat, Morocco.
Christie released Variable Dynamic Range, a software update that lets its CineLife+ projectors play HDR DCPs, and is developing next-generation Dolby Cinema equipment with Dolby. Regal Cineworld is installing 4,000 Barco Series 4 laser projectors. Of this group, Sony secured two for this release: Dolby Cinema and HDR by Barco.
Immersion and haptics: ScreenX and 4DX
CJ 4DPLEX operates two formats. ScreenX adds two projectors to the central screen and extends the image 270 degrees onto both side walls, the first multi-projection cinema format. 4DX pairs motion seating synchronised to the picture with 21 environmental effects, including vibration, wind, water, fog, snow, scent and lightning. It launched commercially in 2009, and an editing team programs the effects for each title. Ultra 4DX combines both in one auditorium.
A ScreenX auditorium presentation of “Spider-Man: Brand New Day.” The central image continues onto both side walls for a 270-degree field. Photo: CJ 4DPLEX
CJ 4DPLEX is headquartered in Seoul with offices in Los Angeles, Beijing and London, and is a subsidiary of CJ CGV within CJ Group, alongside CJ ENM. It runs a dedicated ScreenX VFX production studio of close to 100 artists, which is what made the shift from post-production extension to on-set capture on “Brand New Day” possible inside the company rather than through a vendor.
Canada’s D-BOX supplies the seating side. Its haptic and motion systems are installed on top of other formats, which puts them into exhibitor-branded auditoriums as well. RealD supplies polarised 3D projection, co-branded with exhibition chains. “Brand New Day” booked both ScreenX and 4DX in this group, and joined ScreenX at the shooting stage.
Exhibitor-owned PLF brands
Chains also build their own PLF. Cinemark XD launched in 2009, Regal RPX in 2010, Dolby Cinema in 2014. In the UK and Europe there are Cineworld Superscreen, Showcase XPlus and Odeon iSense. Each combines an oversized screen with Dolby Atmos audio to create a premium tier, without paying a licensing split to an outside format vendor.
A further tier adds only seating and amenities — recliners, reserved seats and extended legroom that raise standard-house ticket prices. Marcus Theatres operates its version under the DreamLounger name.
The formats “Brand New Day” played, and the IMAX screens it could not book, all sit inside the market below.
The cinema format landscape · 2026
Sources: IMAX annual report; Cinemark proxy statement; CJ 4DPLEX, Samsung and Barco releases; Omdia; Screen International; Forbes
These tiers are programmed side by side within one site. The August 1 “Brand New Day” schedule at Marcus Theatres’ Addison Cinema lists ScreenX four times and UltraScreen DLX — oversized screen, laser projection, Dolby Atmos, DreamLounger recliners — four times, with a separate UltraScreen 3D house.
The August 1 “Brand New Day” schedule at Marcus Theatres’ Addison Cinema, with four ScreenX showings and four in UltraScreen DLX. Source: Marcus Theatres ticketing page
Another site in the same circuit is configured differently. With no ScreenX, it ran UltraScreen DLX six times in 2D and twice in 3D, a RealD 3D house three times, and recliner-equipped standard auditoriums 22 times — 11 of 33 daily showtimes at premium pricing. Which formats a location carries varies by chain and by site.
How exhibitor-owned PLF pays
Chains build their own brands because of the revenue split. Licensing an outside format means sharing ticket revenue; an in-house brand does not. As own-brand screens spread, format vendors gain a competitor and a customer at the same time. D-BOX seating went into Cinemark XD houses, and Dolby now supplies Dolby Vision projection on its own to exhibitors already running Atmos in their PLF auditoriums. Barco’s lower-capital package targets the same buyers.
The screen-size record has also changed hands. In April 2026 EVO Entertainment said it would build an EVX auditorium in Clearwater, Florida with a screen wider than 130 feet. That passes the roughly 127-foot IMAX screen at the Traumpalast in Leonberg, Germany. It is the first time the largest cinema screen in the world runs on Dolby Vision rather than IMAX hardware.
CJ 4DPLEX joins production with Shot for ScreenX
Sony filled the IMAX gap with “Shot for ScreenX,” which CJ 4DPLEX announced on June 17. Ultra-wide projection is not new. Cinerama shot on three synchronised 35mm cameras in the 1950s and projected onto curved screens, but process cost limited the format to seven features.
ScreenX previously extended completed footage onto the walls in post-production. “Brand New Day” is the first title on which CJ 4DPLEX worked with the filmmakers from production through distribution. Director Destin Daniel Cretton said the CJ 4DPLEX team shot the wing-screen footage on set. CEO Jun Bang said the company’s own production tools allowed it to widen the image while preserving the director’s intent. Don Savant, CEO and president of CJ 4DPLEX Americas, said the technology will be applied only on specific filmmaker collaborations.
The company carries 20 to 30 titles a year and attaches production work to tentpoles only, adding production participation to its exhibition fees. The opening returns followed. ScreenX passed “Deadpool & Wolverine’s” $1.3 million format preview night and is tracking toward $4 million for the weekend; CNBC put Thursday at $1.8 million. 4DX took $1.3 million in previews, ahead of “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” at $1.2 million, and is tracking toward $4.5 million.
Domestic ScreenX box office rose 55 percent in the first half of 2026. Combined ScreenX and 4DX revenue in North America reached $70 million, up 26 percent. The AMC agreement signed last year installs both formats at 65 locations worldwide, including 40 4DX auditoriums, and completes in 2027. On completion CJ 4DPLEX will operate more than 1,200 premium screens globally.
ScreenX capture, post and projection specification
A frame from the official ScreenX trailer. The alley on the centre screen continues onto the side walls as brick and steel doors. Image: ScreenX official trailer, June 17, 2026
Capture used a dual-camera rig, with a wide-format camera mounted directly above the primary production camera. The second unit shot environmental imagery and reference material for the side walls during principal photography. The finished presentation mixes practical footage with visual effects built for the expanded canvas. Practical material now carries more of the side screens than CGI, reversing earlier ScreenX releases.
Post-production keeps the periphery from competing with the centre. The length and scope of each expanded sequence follows the scene. Bright light sources, complex action and out-of-focus figures are adjusted or removed. Controlled blur and reduced contrast on the walls bring the eye back to the centre.
The ScreenX trailer released on June 17 used the sequences selected for expansion: the swing across New York, a tank chase, an encounter with the Punisher driving a van, and a prison fight. Ceiling-mounted projectors carry the image onto the walls, so a figure that would leave the frame as the camera pans stays in view on the side screens.
New ScreenX installations run laser 4K projectors on the centre screen and both walls, in 25,000-, 35,000- or 45,000-lumen configurations by auditorium size. All three surfaces match on native 4K, DCI-P3 colour and brightness. The SX-100 Show Control System binds the three planes into one image. It was developed by the engineers behind large-scale immersive venues including the Las Vegas Sphere.
Audio uses the film’s standard theatrical mix. CJ 4DPLEX requires a minimum of 7.1 surround and treats Dolby Atmos as preferred, but no UK ScreenX site is equipped for Atmos. Forbes wrote that ScreenX has remained a niche corner of the premium market with underwhelming results, citing the racing sequences in “Gran Turismo” as the exception.
Showtime allocation and total market revenue
Showtimes in major-market multiplexes concentrated on two titles. AMC Lincoln Square in New York scheduled 36 daily showings of “Brand New Day,” AMC Century City 40, Regal Sherman Oaks Galleria 43 and Regal L.A. Live 44. “The Odyssey” is tracking $52 million in its third weekend, down 42 percent, with a running total near $396.5 million by Sunday.
The North American market as a whole is projected at $407 million to $412 million for the weekend, above the $402 million all films combined during Endgame’s April 2019 opening. TheWrap projected that such a result would push year-to-date domestic grosses past $6 billion and make a $10 billion year, the first since the pandemic, close to assured. Internationally, a five-day opening of at least $850 million is expected.
Korean movie tech inside the premium format stack
Two of the movie-tech formats used on this release come from Korean companies. CJ 4DPLEX handled ScreenX and 4DX, and the film also played auditoriums fitted with Samsung’s Onyx LED. The two compete with IMAX, Dolby and Barco in different parts of the auditorium. They lead segments of the global entertainment technology market, yet none of that revenue appears in Korean industry statistics, which count screens and admissions.
Sources: CJ 4DPLEX and Samsung announcements, 2024–2026
This is the first title under CJ 4DPLEX’s new “Shot for SCREENX” programme. The company’s scope ran from the dual-camera rig on set — a wide-format camera mounted above the main camera, capturing side-wall imagery at the same time — through the attention design in post to the laser 4K projectors and SX-100 Show Control System in the auditorium. New ScreenX houses run laser 4K projection on the centre screen and both walls, in 25,000-, 35,000- or 45,000-lumen configurations by room size. Rather than selling equipment or collecting an exhibition fee, one company set the specification across production, post and exhibition. Entering at the production stage pays better than adding auditoriums. ScreenX launched in 2012; this arrangement took 14 years to arrive.
The spread of exhibitor-owned PLF is the longer-term risk for format vendors, because a chain can build a premium tier from an oversized screen and Atmos with no split. An outside format has to offer a specification the chain cannot reproduce. ScreenX’s production-stage work, 4DX’s seating and effects systems and Samsung’s move to LED are each a response to that.
The SX-100 control system was developed by the engineers who designed the Las Vegas Sphere. It is the software that binds three projection planes into one continuous image. Cinema formats and large-scale immersive venues draw on the same technical staff. Korean companies preparing immersive venue businesses should treat cinema format vendors as primary partners.
K-content, film and K-pop titles aiming at U.S. theatrical release have to weigh format access and release date together. This opening is the evidence. With Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” holding a four-week IMAX exclusivity from July 17, even a Marvel Spider-Man film could not book a single IMAX screen. If a major studio release faces that, a mid-scale title has less room still, and standard-house showtimes contract in a tentpole week. ScreenX and 4DX leave more negotiating room, and the network itself — 490 ScreenX auditoriums in 52 countries, 48 of them Ultra 4DX, plus more than 780 4DX auditoriums in over 70 countries — is a route to release scale abroad. Over the past decade CJ 4DPLEX has played 82 Korean titles in 69 countries; in 2025 alone it carried 18 titles across 45 countries to an audience of 300,000.
Movie tech earns differently from content. A specification installed in an auditorium remains an asset for years, and each title adds follow-on revenue through grading, effects programming or on-set collaboration — HDR by Barco and Dolby Cinema each require their own grade, 4DX reprograms more than 21 effects per release, ScreenX sends a crew to set. Whoever holds the specification sets the price. That is also what lets IMAX sign long-dated exclusive booking agreements with studios. In the first half of this year, combined ScreenX and 4DX box office in North America reached $70 million, up 26 percent year over year, with ScreenX alone up 55 percent.
Formats travel beyond film. CJ 4DPLEX has produced and distributed around 20 original titles a year, including K-pop and J-pop concert films, and is raising that to roughly 25 including narrative features from this year. In October 2024 it carried Game 4 of the Korean Series live in ScreenX, the first theatrical live sports broadcast in the format; in 2025 the coverage expanded to the full postseason from the wild card through the Korean Series, with playoff screenings averaging above 80 percent occupancy. Samsung positions Onyx for live sports, concerts and gaming events on the basis of its 300-nit peak brightness in rooms with ambient light. For Korean companies distributing K-pop concert films and live sports through overseas cinema networks, these specifications are the distribution route.
Conclusion
Korean policy and funding have concentrated on content production. Exhibition specifications, equipment and control software are frequently not classified as an industry of their own. The entertainment technology market built on raising immersion inside the exhibition space is set to expand substantially. The engineers who built Sphere are writing cinema control software, and Samsung’s LED is moving from film presentation into live sports and concerts — both already point that way.
Three things follow. First, entertainment technology should be classified as an industry in its own right in statistics and funding programmes, rather than an adjunct to content support; policy does not attach to revenue that goes uncounted. Second, R&D that secures specifications and standards needs investment, because whoever holds the specification sets pricing and booking — the structure IMAX has demonstrated. Third, support for overseas expansion should cover immersive-space technology beyond cinema, since cinema formats and large venues already sit on the same technology stack.
Without domestic entertainment technology, the scale at which K-content reaches overseas audiences will be decided inside specifications owned elsewhere. However well the content is made, the screen it plays on and the number of countries and auditoriums it reaches are set by whoever holds the format.
Sources
· Deadline, “‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ Sets All-Time First-Day High With $167M+ U.S. – Friday Box Office Update,” July 31, 2026 (Anthony D’Alessandro) — https://deadline.com/2026/07/box-office-spider-man-brand-new-day-1237014268/
· Variety, “Screen X to Launch New Premium Large Format Initiative With ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ (Exclusive),” June 17, 2026 (Rebecca Rubin) — https://variety.com/2026/film/news/screen-x-premium-large-format-spider-man-brand-new-day-1236781390/
· Forbes, “Why ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ Could Be A Turning Point For ScreenX,” July 31, 2026 (Benny Har-Even) — https://www.forbes.com/sites/bennyhareven/2026/07/31/why-spider-man-brand-new-day-could-be-a-turning-point-for-screenx/
· Samsung Newsroom, “Samsung Introduces 14-Meter Onyx Cinema LED Display at CinemaCon 2026,” April 13, 2026 — https://news.samsung.com/global/samsung-introduces-14-meter-onyx-cinema-led-display-at-cinemacon-2026
· Barco, “Five New Films from Universal Pictures and Focus Features Confirmed for Release in Premium HDR by Barco,” May 7, 2026; “Barco Announces HDR by Barco Release Slate for First Half of 2026” (PR Newswire), December 18, 2025
· Variety, “What Is HDR by Barco, and What Does It Mean for the Moviegoing Experience?,” April 9, 2026
· Omdia, “Cinema tech deals back in the frame as premium spreads”
· Cinemark Holdings, DEF 14A proxy statement, FY2026, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
· Global Market Insights, “Movie Theater Market Size & Share, Industry Analysis 2035” (citing IMAX Corporation annual report)
· Screen International, “How the premium large format gold rush is pitting exhibitors against Imax” and “Plenty of room in the market”
· WorldwideBoxOffice, “IMAX and the Shift in Premium Large Format (PLF) Dominance,” 2026
· Forbes, “The Odyssey And Premium Screens Sail To Victory,” July 21, 2026 (David Deal)
· ScreenX official YouTube channel, “SPIDER-MAN: BRAND NEW DAY OFFICIAL SCREENX TRAILER,” June 17, 2026 — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pv5ShX3qVgg
· Marcus Theatres showtime listing, July 31, 2026 (supplied)
· CNBC, “‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ sets domestic box office preview record with $72 million,” July 31, 2026
· TheWrap, “‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ Passes ‘Avengers: Endgame’ With Record $72 Million in Box Office Previews,” July 31, 2026
· CJ 4DPLEX press releases (PR Newswire), March and July 2026; CJ 4DPLEX / AMC Entertainment joint announcement, March 2025
· CJ 4DPLEX, “CJ 4DPLEX Appoints Jun Bang as New CEO” (PR Newswire), December 2024 — original title output and the KBO playoff live broadcast in ScreenX