Santa Barbara’s Arlington Theatre celebrated National Spider-Man Day on Aug. 1 with a “Spidey Bash” in the theater’s courtyard, inviting all fans of the webbed superhero to commemorate Spider-Man’s first-ever 1962 comic book appearance.
This year, that Aug. 1 anniversary happened to fall on the opening weekend of Marvel’s newest movie: “Spider-Man: Brand New Day.”
Kendall Lewis, events manager at the Arlington Theatre, said the theater likes to hold “affordable, fun, low-cost” gatherings.
The theater has previously held similar events for “Toy Story” and “Star Wars.” The next is “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” planned for Oct. 18.
“It just brings everyone together, especially people that haven’t been here before,” Lewis said.
Attendees were given a goodie bag, as well as a collectible popcorn bucket and cup. Kids also colored in pictures of Spider-Man and grabbed photos in front of the “Brand New Day” display features inside the theater.
The Spidey-Bash also included a trivia section where guests answered questions about Spider-Man, comic books and other Marvel movies.
Teenager Mason Mauney, who was brought to the event as a surprise by his aunt and uncle, won the trivia prize of two Marvel-themed board games.
Mauney was one of the few in attendance who was able to watch the movie on opening day.
“I loved it,” Mauney said. “I thought it was probably one of the better live-action Spider-Man movies. Tom Holland probably has his best performance as Spider-Man.”
Teenagers Ismail and Tamara Mansour heard about the event from a friend and decided to come and participate in trivia.
“We both love Spider-Man, and we love Marvel, and we saw the film yesterday. So we’re like, ‘Oh, what better way to celebrate Spider-Man Day than come to this?’” Tamara added.
While many of the guests were local, some traveled far to come to the Spidey-Bash.
Abigail Haskell drove down from San Luis Obispo with her two children and husband after he read about the event online.
“(My son) wants to be Spider-Man for Halloween,” Haskell added. “So we thought maybe this was the time for us to go to a party.”
Kat Bryant and her family, who are from Austin, Texas, were visiting family in Santa Barbara. They decided to come before watching the new Spider-Man movie.
“I love Spider-Man, and I really wanted to see (the movie),” teenager Garnet Bryant said. “I didn’t want to get spoiled, so we decided to go here because this is a very old but very known theater, and it also had a party.”
“Spider-Man: Brand New Day” stars Tom Holland, Zendaya and Sadie Sink. It was released exclusively to movie theaters on July 31, 2026. It is now playing in Santa Barbara theaters.
