Sony's Spider-Man situation
Sony keeps making Spider-Man movies without Spider-Man. The results aren't surprising.
This probably isn’t sustainable.
After two weekends in theaters, Sony’s latest Spider-Man offshoot, “Madame Web,” has grossed around $35 million in the US ($77 million total worldwide), according to Comscore. It’s a dismal situation for the movie, even if it cost less to make than most comic-book adaptations these days.
It’s the latest superhero movie to crash and burn at the box office following big-budget flops last year like “The Flash” and “The Marvels.” But “Madame Web” isn’t a reflection of any larger superhero-movie fatigue so much as it’s a case of a studio’s franchise plans going up in flames in real time.
The “Sony Universe of Marvel Characters” started off well in 2018 with “Venom,” which became a surprise hit with over $800 million worldwide. But since then, Sony’s attempt at capitalizing on Spider-Man’s roster of supporting characters and villains with their own Spider-Man-less movies has seen diminishing returns.
The “Venom” sequel “Let There Be Carnage” was a respectable hit with over $500 million worldwide. It fell far short of its predecessor, but at the time it could be forgiven during the pandemic. But real warning signs flared up when 2022’s “Morbius,” starring Jared Leto, grossed $167 million globally, including just $74 million in the US.
“Madame Web” may not be quite the final nail in the coffin considering Sony still has two more SUMC movies on the schedule this year with a third “Venom” and “Kraven the Hunter.” (Another movie, called “El Muerto,” is apparently still in the works despite losing superstar singer Bad Bunny as its star). But the reception to “Madame Web” beyond the box office is telling of how these movies have a real quality problem that is unsustainable long term, especially after “Morbius” faced similar issues: 13% and 56% Rotten Tomatoes critic and audience scores, respectively; a 1.6 rating on the popular film-focused social network Letterboxd (read my review); and a C+ grade at Cinemascore, which surveys audiences on a movie’s opening night.
If “Kraven” tanks when it releases in August, Sony will be in full panic mode (if it’s not already). The studio has desperately tried to milk the Spider-Man franchise for all it’s worth, first with the Andrew Garfield-starring reboot that attempted to launch a larger connected universe, and now with these spinoff movies that nobody is really asking for. Characters like Morbius and Madame Web are fairly niche even in the comics. “Madame Web” tries to force a Spider-Man connection by literally giving birth to Peter Parker (in 2003, making him a Gen Zer) and butchering the “great power” line. “Morbius” tried to shoehorn in an MCU multiverse connection by adding Michael Keaton’s Vulture in an end-credits scene and suggesting that they “team up” (the studio clearly didn’t learn its lesson from its failed attempt at a supervillain team-up movie during the Garfield era).
It suggests that Sony knows it has a problem on its hands; these movies don’t really work without Spider-Man. It also shows that, aside from the “Spider-Verse” and Tom Holland MCU films (which are helped by the creative forces of producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller, and Kevin Feige), the studio has clearly lost the plot.
Sony now faces quite the conundrum: Spider-Man is its most lucrative franchise and controls hundreds of related characters, so it’s unlikely to just relinquish the rights. But how much longer can it keep spending money on box-office misses? Is it willing to keep striking deals with Marvel Studios? The studio reaps the rewards of the partnership, but it can also be a hindrance to its own plans outside of the MCU. And making a movie starring Holland that isn’t within the MCU proper might be a mistake — moviegoers are clearly catching on to superhero cash grabs.
The logical next step might be to just abandon the live-action spinoffs and keep making Spider-Verse animated films, but that risks oversaturation. Or making a live-action Miles Morales movie, but that seems like a ways off.
The reality is that Sony has boxed themselves into a corner, and getting out might take a total reset and a long conversation about its film strategy as it relates to Marvel. It may think it has a goldmine on its hands, but not if it continues to erode the brand. Remember, if you take full responsibility, great power will come. Or something like that.