Willem Dafoe: Record $4.76 Billion Box Office 'Has to Be Spread Out'

Willem Dafoe has called for the record-breaking $4.76 billion U.S. summer box office to be "spread out a little bit," arguing that the haul rests on the shoulders of a handful of blockbusters.

Speaking at the Zurich Film Festival, where he presented the opening night film "Tenzing," Dafoe pointed to the uneven distribution behind the 2026 record. This summer's takings were driven largely by Christopher Nolan's "The Odyssey" and Destin Daniel Cretton's "Spider-Man: Brand New Day."

"The only problem is that the audience comes mainly from three, four huge movies," Dafoe said. "A couple of smaller movies kind of catch on and do well, but it's got to be spread out a little bit."

"Tenzing," directed by Jennifer Peedom, opened to warm Zurich audiences and will receive a limited theatrical release in the U.S. from Oct. 9, ahead of its global streaming debut on Apple TV on Oct. 16. Dafoe stressed the importance of seeing the epic in cinemas.

The actor knows both sides of the divide. He appeared as the Green Goblin in Sam Raimi's first "Spider-Man" in 2002, and he collaborated early in their careers with auteurs including Sean Baker, Wes Anderson, Yorgos Lanthimos and Robert Eggers.

When he took the comic book role, his friends were skeptical. "When I was proposed this role, some of my friends were like: 'Are you kidding? Are you going to play this green guy? That's not cool! That sounds like a terrible movie!'" he recalled. He said he joined the project at the "start of business-as-normal making movies from comic books."

"I was not a big comic book fan; I didn't know about this world, but Sam Raimi did," Dafoe added. "I saw his attachment to it and saw how he saw it. I liked him so much that he really is what got me into it. Once I was in it, I had really fun things to do."

More than two decades on, the Green Goblin remains his most consistent point of recognition from audiences — "For better or for worse," he said. "Luckily, I do other things so I am not haunted by this mono-identity, but it's pretty strong."

Dafoe returned to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as the Green Goblin in "Spider-Man: No Way Home," and he enjoyed both experiences. "They're part of cinema," he quipped. "They are right up there with Bela Tarr."

"Tenzing" chronicles the first ascent of Mount Everest by Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary, played by Genden Phuntsok and Tom Hiddleston, respectively. Dafoe plays Colonel John Hunt, leader of the 1953 British expedition team.

The production shot on real mountains at high altitude, and Dafoe said the entire film team had to be "very careful." "We had great safety people," he noted. "They're checking for avalanches, for all sorts of things. There are 10 guys purely helping us slip in and making sure we're safe, helping us if we struggle […] That's the tension."

The physical reality of the location shaped the work. "Nature is the biggest partner you'll have because it tells you what you have to do," Dafoe said. "There is no invented world. It's a world that really exists; you're not questioning [its] authenticity. You're definitely on this mountain, and you're definitely having a little hard time breathing, or you're fatigued, or you're hungry, or you have to go to the toilet, and there's no toilet there… All kinds of challenges and, on top of that, you've got the scenes."

With its brief U.S. theatrical window before streaming, "Tenzing" now becomes a test case for exactly the kind of mid-scale theatrical release Dafoe wants the industry to sustain.