CEO of Pascal Pictures, Pascal Pictures
FLYING HIGH: Kevin Feige and Amy Pascal talk 'Spider-Man: Brand New Day'
With 'Spider-Man: Brand New Day' swinging its way into theaters on July 31st, producers Kevin Feige and Amy Pascal discuss Tom Holland's latest adventure as the web-slinger. Feige also talks about how Marvel has movies planned all the way up to 2042 and teases what's in store for the Avengers when 'Doomsday' opens later this year.
About Amy Pascal
Amy Pascal, CEO of Pascal Pictures, appeared alongside Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige in a July 2026 interview to promote the upcoming film "Spider-Man: Brand New Day." Pascal discussed the creative decision to return Peter Parker to a state of anonymity following the events of "No Way Home," stating that the move was made because it was "the right thing to do for Peter Parker" and that it would allow for a "great future for Spider-Man." She also noted that Spider-Man exists in a world of other characters, which she said provides "rich opportunities." Pascal also commented on the state of the film industry, describing 2026 as "a really great year for moviegoing." She said that people are attending theaters to see "all kinds of different movies" and expressed happiness that the business appears to be strong, countering what she described as claims that the industry was not performing well.
Transcript (37 segments)
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Movie Clip0:02
Dr. Banner? No Banner. Only Hulk. I'm sorry, but you're in danger. What? I promised you that I would keep you safe. Please, you just have to trust me. Come on. Fine. You're the only one who can sense it. Hey, can we do this one at a time, please? You're the only one who can defeat it.
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Interviewer0:34
Brand new day. The footage that we've seen so far is excellent. No Way Home was such a creative and financial success for the character. What was the biggest challenge to you both taking the character in a new direction for Brand New Day?
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Amy Pascal0:48
Making the fact that we decided to take him back to being completely anonymous at the end of No Way Home was a risky thing to do because it certainly was working. But what we wanted to do was put him back into that classic Spider-Man dilemma where nobody knows who he is and yet he still has to keep going.
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Interviewer1:15
We don't know much about the villain. I've been sleuthing around the internet trying to figure it out myself. Obviously, the first 30 minutes of watching the movie, I can't talk about it, but what kind of threat is Tom Holland's Spider-Man up against this time, Kevin?
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Kevin Feige1:32
The idea very early on was to put Spidey up against something he'd never been up against before, right? To put him as you talked about, No Way Home was a big success and if anyone's ever lucky enough to have success like that, it is very easy to be paralyzed by that kind of success. And it's a testament to this team that if we were paralyzed, it only lasted a year or two, and then we really got into what is the best new fresh story to tell. And as Amy has said, it's not about topping it, it's not about making something bigger, it's about going somewhere you haven't gone before. And the notion of Spidey being up against a villain that he can't see, that he can't necessarily fight, was very, very intriguing. Was an idea that our writers brought to us early on. And it took a long time to develop into the version of the movie we made, but it was one of the early ideas to put him up against a foe unlike any he has faced before.
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Amy Pascal2:43
And I think in the world that we live in now, I think so much evil and we're up against things that we don't know, and we don't understand, and we can't see, and we can't touch, and they're not tangible in the way that we have thought of villains. And so, being able to capture that was something that we wanted to do.
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Movie Clip3:11
Hi, my name is Peter Parker. You don't remember me, but we used to know each other. Something bad was going to happen, and the only way to stop it was to make everyone forget about me. Because I'm not just Peter Parker. I'm Spider-Man.
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Interviewer3:32
We haven't really seen this in movies where we've gotten to watch Tom play this character over a decade. Amy, Kevin, take me back to that decision or meeting or whatever it was where you decided that you were going to move this character into the MCU. I imagine Kevin, on your end you would have been very excited and Amy also there would have been excitement on your end as well.
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Amy Pascal3:57
It happened because it was the right thing to do for Peter Parker. Peter exists in a world of other characters, not just the ones in his own comics. That's what gives him such rich opportunities. Kevin is a Spider-Man lover as am I and we made the decision and the companies obviously backed us and were good with it that this was going to be the right thing to do for a great future for Spider-Man.
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Kevin Feige4:34
On my end it was a dream and like many dreams from my early days at Marvel, one that I never thought initially would be possible. We talk about exciting things in brand new day and seeing Spidey and Hulk as you've seen in the trailers together for the first time sharing a frame, sharing a fight was awesome for this movie. That we could even do that would have been impossible 20 years ago, 15 years ago. And that now we have Punisher and Hulk together and that we've already had Spidey in the MCU for three other films. Is just I've always thought it is the destiny of the characters to appear on the big screen in a similar fashion to the way they have appeared in the comics.
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Amy Pascal5:24
Yes, and that is how it's always worked in comics, and that's the god we follow.
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Kevin Feige5:29
The artificial walls didn't ever exist in the comics and I'm very glad that they're down right now.
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Interviewer5:37
Do you have a sense now where Kevin, I think the very first time we spoke in 2016, you told me the blueprint goes till 2023. Here we are in 2026.
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Kevin Feige5:47
There's no blueprint anymore.
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Interviewer5:49
[laughter]
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Amy Pascal5:50
Where's the blueprint? I haven't seen one.
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Kevin Feige5:52
Yeah, I don't know how firm that blueprint was. The blueprint is always very loose because it needs to be because reality comes in every day and every week when you try to bring these stories to life, but they're very helpful to have as a guide. And I told somebody else this the other day and it's ludicrous, but I'll tell you that there is a road map in one of our conference rooms at Marvel right now that I just looked at on my way out the door to another meeting and it went to 2042.
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Interviewer6:30
[laughter] 2042. Oh, wow.
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Kevin Feige6:34
And yet every time we start again, it's as though
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Amy Pascal6:41
Exactly.
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Kevin Feige6:41
it's a blue sky because
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Amy Pascal6:43
Every movie.
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Kevin Feige6:43
Every movie have to stand on its own two feet and you have to be able to love that movie whatever movies you've seen before.
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Amy Pascal6:54
100%.
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Interviewer6:56
I do want to ask you both about the theatrical experience. Remember, I saw Iron Man opening weekend. Kevin, when X-Men came out, we were there the opening weekend. You were producer on that. Thinking about all these movies and seeing them in the movie theater and just they're incredible experiences. If you could both talk about that.
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Amy Pascal7:15
There is nothing like sitting in a dark room and having no control over what's going to happen. I think we all think that we want to know everything. We think that we want to control everything. We think we want to know all the secrets. But in truth I don't think we do. And I think that the immersive, surprising, overwhelming experience of seeing a movie in a movie theater. There just isn't anything like it.
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Kevin Feige7:51
It's my favorite place in the world and it's the reason I wanted to do this is because of the emotions and the adrenaline and the philosophical discoveries made in a darkened theater when I was a kid that altered my DNA to want to do this. And a good story well told in a giant theater in the dark is the greatest form of entertainment and I also think one of the most important forms of human interaction.
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Amy Pascal8:25
I agree. It is one of the most. It is.
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Kevin Feige8:29
Yeah, it seems easy to me. The same thing together at the same time.
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Amy Pascal8:34
It's just an incredible experience. No Way Home was the last movie we watched before they locked the theaters down again and it's my favorite. And I will, I want, I know you're going to ask Kevin something, but I'm going to say something else is that this year is a really great year. Oh, damn it. See, I knew that would happen. Is a great year for moviegoing. People are going to the movies. They're going to the movies to see all kinds of different movies and I think we should all be so happy because it feels like whatever anybody was saying that the business was not good, I think it's great.
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Interviewer9:18
Tom has another movie coming out this week.
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Amy Pascal9:19
I heard that.
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Interviewer9:20
I'm very excited to see it.
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Amy Pascal9:21
Yeah. Yeah, me too.
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Interviewer9:22
Oh, it's incredible. I've watched it. Kevin, before I let you both go, a few months from now we're going to get Doomsday. What can fans expect from that? What's that going to represent to Marvel fans?
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Kevin Feige9:33
Look, the return of the Avengers represents a great deal to us and the fans. It really was, 2019 was before everything changed for us, theatrically and in the world. So, a return to that experience, I certainly think everyone is going to have a brand new day, that giant theatrical experience together. But when the Avengers assemble, it needs to be very, very special.
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Movie Clip10:00
What the hell, Frank? You just hit me with a van. Put your web friend. Shoot yourself. Mother, go home. Sometimes Spider-Man has to do the hard thing, even if it breaks Peter Parker's heart. What is happening to me? Oh! Oh, God! Excuse me, Dr. Banner. I need your help.