Spider-Man's anti-heroes no longer have a future at Sony.
Tl;dr
- Sony abandons its cinematic universe centered on the enemies of Spider-Man after several critical and financial failures.
- Movies like Venom, Morbius, Kraven the Hunter et Madame Web failed to captivate the public, in particular due to a lack of quality.
- Sony is refocusing on promising projects, including a new Spider-Man with Tom Holland and the animated Spider-Verse universe.
An ambitious but costly attempt
Sony had big ambitions by launching a cinematic universe based on the iconic enemies of Spider-Man. Since 2018, films like Venom, Morbius, Kraven the Hunter et Madame Web were intended to compete with franchises like the Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, the absence of Spider-Mancentral figure, made the project difficult to sell. With more than $465 million spent on production and declining revenues, the company proved to be a money pit. This failure shows the limits of exploiting secondary characters without a solid narrative to support them.
The quality of the Spider-Man Universe films
One of the major problems with this universe is the quality of the Spider-Man Universe films. An insider told The Wrap that the main flaw with these projects is their poor execution. Criticized for their shaky scenarios and a lack of coherent vision, these films failed to seduce the public. Morbiusin particular, has been mocked on social media for its glaring flaws. Even Kraven the Hunter suffers from mixed anticipation. With a projected opening of just $20 million, the film falls far short of making up for its original $110 million budget.
The end of a shared universe
Sony now seems ready to turn the page on its universe Spider-Man without Spider-Man. The failure of this initiative illustrates the challenges of building a franchise around supporting characters without a solid anchor. While Marvel Studios succeeded thanks to a global vision and meticulous care given to each film, Sony was unable to reproduce this alchemy with the Spider-Man Universe. The director of Kraven the HunterJC Chandor, recently mentioned the desire to shoot a sequel, but the results expected for the first film make this project improbable.
A new beginning for Sony and Spider-Man
Despite these failures, Sony retains some trump cards. The studio plans to focus on more promising projects like the fourth film Spider-Man with Tom Holland, who remains a sure bet with fans. Additionally, animated films Spider-Verse received unanimous critical and public reception, paving the way for other explorations of this universe. Finally, a TV series Spider-Black starring Nicolas Cage is in development, hinting at a more focused and potentially more successful future for Sony.
