The two Holland films are set to be released within weeks of each other in July.

The surprising reason Tom Holland credits The Odyssey for helping Spider-Man: Brand New Day

The two Holland films are set to be released within weeks of each other in July.

By Derek Lawrence

Derek Lawrence

Derek Lawrence is a former associate editor at **. He left EW in 2022.

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June 2, 2026 3:26 p.m. ET

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Tom Holland in 'Spider-Man: Brand New Day' and 'The Odyssey'. Credit:

Jay Maidment; Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal Pictures

- Tom Holland credits *The Odyssey* with saving *Spider-Man: Brand New Day*.

- The actor had to have an "uncomfortable conversation" with Sony about delaying the *Spider-Man* franchise's next installment.

- Holland took lessons from Christopher Nolan back to *Brand New Day*.

Tom Holland's most impressive superpower on *Spider-Man: Brand New Day* was convincing Sony to push back the highly anticipated film.

The fourth installment in Holland's franchise opens July 31, just two weeks after he stars in Christopher Nolan's epic blockbuster *The Odyssey*. But it didn't originally appear as if Holland could do both, considering the production dates were nearly identical.

“I said to Chris, ‘Look, I want to do this movie, but if I’m going to do it, I’m going to have to call Sony and have a very uncomfortable conversation,’ " Holland told *GQ*.

The actor then went to have that uneasy chat with Tom Rothman, the boss of Sony, the studio that produces *Spider-Man* with Marvel. He ultimately gave the thumbs up.

“I think one of the reasons why Sony were happy to move is because Chris has that reputation of ‘This movie isn’t going to go five months over, and we aren’t actually going to lose Tom for two years,’ ” Holland said. “Any other director, it might have been a slightly different conversation.”

It turns out that the delay in *Brand New Day* filming was the best thing that could have happened to Sony and the web-slinging hero. Jon Watts directed the first three installments of Holland's series, but he opted to move on, and the hunt for a new filmmaker eventually led to Marvel veteran Destin Daniel Cretton (*Wonder Man* and *Shang-Chi*).

“*The Odyssey* almost saved *Spider-Man* because we wouldn’t have had Destin,” Holland revealed. “He wouldn’t have been ready to make the movie when we were ready to go. We wouldn’t have had the six-month period to develop the script with Destin to get it to a place where it is now. And I truly believe that we’ve made the best version of any *Spider-Man *movie going. So while it was a tough pill to swallow for Sony, I think in hindsight, they’re very grateful that it happened.”

Tom Holland declares 'The Odyssey' a 'masterpiece': 'One of my proudest achievements'

Why Matt Damon and Tom Holland were jealous of Zendaya on 'The Odyssey' set

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But the benefits of *The Odyssey* didn't stop there when Holland returned to his role as Spider-Man. After watching Nolan's unparalleled preparation up close, Holland came to *Brand New Day* with a new outlook on filmmaking.

“I was really able to lay down the law and say, ‘We are not going to come to set and figure it out,’ ” he shared. “ ‘We need to know why we are making this movie beyond the fact that it’s *Spider-Man 4* and they make loads of money and we’re going to just have a big summer. And Destin was super instrumental in that, but it was just really great to constantly be calling up the studio and [producers] Amy [Pascal] and Rachel [O’Connor], who I love, and be like, ‘Well, Chris is doing it this way. This is how I think we should be doing it.’ ”

It's just too bad that Holland couldn't get Zendaya-level praise from Nolan!

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Source: “EW Superhero”