Chez Sony Pictureswe unfold the marquees, we prepare the caravans and the actors remove their makeup backstage. In a word: the circus is over. Recently, the editorial staff of the site TheWrap published an article to take stock of the brand's projects Spider-Man developed for several years in the wake of the first part of the trilogy Venom. An effort supervised by the two minds behind the franchise, Avi Arad et Amy Pascaland whose idea was initially to build an independent shared universe around the super-villains (or secondary characters) of the spider gallery: Venom, Morbius, The requirements, Madame Web. Coming off a long series of box office failures, the studio has obviously decided to pull the plug for the moment.
Champagne !
The writing of TheWrap suggests several sources at Sony Pictures (producers and agents) to develop his article, and all the statements are in the same direction. The observation was all in all quite logical with or without journalistic expertise: with the exception of the trilogy Venom and its substantial base on the Asian market, none of the films developed under license Spider-Man failed to find its audience. The box office will have ended up forcing the hand of shareholders, probably tired of having to absorb the deadweight losses of Morbius (167 million on theatrical admissions), Madame Web (105 million) and not necessarily reassured by the first estimates around the start of Kraven the Hunter. The film of J.C. Chandor should not succeed in reversing the trend if we rely on the data recovered at the moment.
And for good reason, this one is part of the same problematic logic: a competent casting, a talented director… but a promotional campaign that doesn't take hold, a promise of automatic and without idea entertainment, an ugly not really bad, and a long series of discrepancies which will have literally destroyed any possibility of building real expectation among the ranks of the general public. In parallel, Venom : The Last Dance did not perform as well as its two predecessors despite an expected return to the Chinese market. The only project capable of balancing the profit and loss accounts, this one will however not be able to save the financial balance sheet of Sony Pictures and Kraven the Hunter collapses in the coming weeks.
And this time, you don't need to have done extensive studies to understand what didn't work: the films produced under the flag.Spider-Man sans Spider-Man” did not represent the slightest interest from a purely qualitative point of view, and this idea of parallel franchises sold on the basis of a (fictitious) link with the Peter Parker of Tom Holland will have ended up exhausting the patience of the spectators.
According to the sources of TheWrap :
“The biggest problem with Sony's Spider-Man movies is the lack of control over quality. The movies just aren't good. And when that quality problem is added to a movie that no one really wanted life, as was the case with Madame Web, it's a no-win scenario. Perhaps it's time for Sony to start cultivating other intellectual properties to launch new franchises.”
Another insists that Sony Pictures should continue to exploit the brand Spider-Man…but focusing exclusively on the co-production of Spider-Man with Marvel Studios and the animated film Beyond the Spider-Verse. Still remains the unknown Spider-Blacka series based on the Spider-Man Black for the platform Prime Videoan open-air experiment that could potentially spark new ideas within the studio if successful. In the meantime, projects The Dead et Hypno-Hustler are to be considered as canceled for good and without hope of immediate return.
This situation could also pose a long-term problem for Kevin Feige : in the “shared custody” contract which binds the two entities, we know that Sony Pictures had also agreed to lend Spider-Man has Marvel Studios thinking of having a bone to gnaw with these productions dedicated to supervillains. Now, it's no secret: from here Spider-Man 5the MCU should accommodate its own Miles Morales in real images to replace Peter Parkersince Tom Holland begins to tire of the role. Therefore, does Sony will agree to let the character sleep and be content to co-produce the adventures of the Brooklyn spider (while sharing the profits with Disney) ? Or, is a new reboot would not be expected for the Spider-Man original within five to ten years?
Hard to say. But for now, one thing is certain. Symbiotic horses, the study of arachnids in the jungle, bad guys who dance shirtless, guys who lick televisions or prepare filthy breakfasts… in short, in a word: fun is finished.
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