With the shooting for Tom Holland‘s Spider-Man: Brand New Day finally commencing in Glasgow, leaks from the set have started to surface, including a peek at the character’s web-swinging.
we are getting swinging action #SpiderManBrandNewDay pic.twitter.com/g7nhotZrgV
— Nafan (@NathanM36409482) August 5, 2025
Interestingly, the swinging seems to be more akin to the pre-MCU Spider-Man movies than Jon Watts‘ trilogy, as the latter told Collider that practical swinging looked dumb and ditched the approach entirely.
It doesn’t look good when someone is just swinging on a rope. You think you’re gonna go in there, you’re like, ‘we’re gonna do it all practical. We’re gonna get a stuntman. We’re gonna be swinging around.’ It’s boring. It looks dumb. It looks like a monkey swinging on a vine when you put someone on just a rope.
Although he advised future Spider-Man directors against using practical effects for web-swinging, it appears Destin Daniel Cretton has no intention of excluding them entirely in favor of CGI.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day Could Be the Antithesis to Jon Watts’ Approach
To clear the air, Tom Holland’s Brand New Day will still feature CGI-based swinging like its predecessors, as it’s reliable for more complex sequences. However, unlike Watts, Cretton might finally give us some practical-based swinging like Sam Raimi‘s Spider-Man and The Amazing Spider-Man movies, even if it’s for brief moments.
Some of the more notable moments from both Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield‘s stints as the webhead incorporate some form of practical-based swinging, and it only makes sense for Tom Holland to follow suit.
Even though it’s understandable why Watts, as a director, would rely on CGI to have total control over Spider-Man’s motion, his statement downplays the proven impact of practical effects, as seen in The Amazing Spider-Man.
The Amazing Spider-Man Is a Testament to Why Practical Effects Can Work
For everything the The Amazing Spider-Man duology got wrong, mostly because of studio interference, Marc Webb’s commitment to practical-based effects wasn’t one of them. Marc Webb and his crew found the sweet spot for blending CGI and practical effects, which gives Garfield’s swinging in TASM a sense of weight and momentum, thanks to the real stunt work that was put into use.
Elaborating on it, stunt coordinator Andy Armstrong revealed they based their swinging rigs entirely around real-world physics to ensure the grounded and natural movement of the webhead. Andrew Garfield himself had to partake in extensive training to use every employed rig in the movie (Per Popular Mechanics).
Garfield said:
I got no special treatment. [Andy] pushed me. There were things that I was scared about, and he told me to go beyond what you think you can do because you might surprise yourself. It’s so nice to be able to look at the movie and feel ownership because of Andy’s trust of me and his encouragement of me
While Watts is right that basic swinging motion on a rope won’t cut it for enthralling visuals, the TASM crew proved that a creative approach and dedication could elevate the webhead’s motion on the big screen.
Are you excited for Spider-Man’s return to practical-based swinging?
Spider-Man: Brand New Day is slated to release on July 31, 2026 (USA).
