Spider-Man: Brand New Day director discusses The Odyssey's impact on the movie

Two weeks after Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey hit theaters, Tom Holland is back in the headlines with Spider-Man: Brand New Day. And while the release date was kept so close, the same goes for the production, which was pushed after Holland had a conversation with Tom Rothman, the Chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group.

Speaking of the same, Spider-Man: Brand New Day director Destin Daniel Cretton, famous for Wonder Man, Tokyo Vice, and Lucky Lu, reportedly said that the extra pre-production time was a big advantage because it gave the team more time to better plan the movie's action design and improve the script.

The latest Spider-Man movie has already scored 90% on Rotten Tomatoes and 8.2 stars on IMDb from over fifty-two thousand viewers. As per reports, the movie took around five months to shoot, starting in August 2025 and wrapping up in December.

Why was Spider-Man: Brand New Day filming delayed for The Odyssey?

A still from Spider-Man: Brand New Day trailer (Image via YouTube/@Marvel Entertainment)

The Odyssey and Spider-Man: Brand New Day share three cast members, with Holland playing an important role in both, which is why the filming was delayed. In The Odyssey, Tom Holland plays the role of Telemachus, the son of Odysseus who goes on a search to find his father after he doesn't return from the Trojan War. Holland's character is of significant importance in The Odyssey, considering he was the one who took action to find Odysseus and helped in executing the plan after Odysseus comes back to Ithaca.

Apart from Holland, The Odyssey also includes two more cast members from Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which include Zendaya, who played the role of Athena, and Jon Bernthal, who played the role of Menelaus in Nolan's movie.

In the latest Spider-Man movie, Holland plays the main character, Spider-Man/Peter Parker, while Zendaya plays Parker's love interest, MJ, and Bernthal plays the Punisher, the one who helped Spider-Man in fighting Jean Grey and keeping MJ safe.

As Tom Holland revealed in GQ, he personally asked Sony Pictures Chairman Tom Rothman if they could delay Spider-Man's filming so he could finish filming The Odyssey. Adding to his statement, Holland also said Sony agreed because they trusted Christopher Nolan to finish filming The Odyssey on time, which is exactly what happened.

Tom Holland explains how Destin Daniel Cretton made Spider-Man: Brand New Day better

Tom Holland and Destin Daniel Cretton - Source: Getty

While Destin Daniel Cretton said the extra time helped improve the script and action design, Tom Holland shared a similar view in his GQ interview. Holland said the delay gave Destin Daniel Cretton six extra months to work on the script, which helped them make the "best version" of the movie. He also said that without the delay caused by The Odyssey, Cretton might not have been ready to direct Spider-Man: Brand New Day at that time.

Tom Holland said that working with Christopher Nolan on The Odyssey changed how he approached Spider-Man: Brand New Day, as he pushed for a clearer creative vision before filming and why they were making the movie. Admiring Destin Daniel Cretton, he said that the director helped give the movie a clear direction.

Made on the reported budget of $225 million, the latest Spider-Man movie has already made $73 million within two days of its release. Other cast members of the movie include Mark Ruffalo, Jacob Batalon, Sadie Sink, Florence Pugh, Liza Colón-Zayas, Tramell Tillman, and Marisa Tomei.