2024 has not been a good year for Sony in regards to its superhero films. For years now, the studio has been trying to take C-list characters from the “Spider-Man” universe and spin them off into new franchises. It worked pretty well for “Venom,” but this year, we got “Madame Web” and “Kraven the Hunter,” which both were massive box office bombs. Now, as the year comes to a close, a Sony executive thinks he knows why the spinoff films aren’t doing well, and it’s not because of the quality on screen.
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Speaking to the L.A. Times, Sony Pictures CEO Tony Vinciquerra talked about the struggles the studio has faced with its 2024 superhero output. While the third “Venom” film has done decent business this year, two other films were perhaps two of the biggest bombs of the year. But according to Vinciquerra, the reason for the films underperforming at the box office is because of the critics being overly harsh.
“‘Madame Web’ underperformed in the theaters because the press just crucified it. It was not a bad film, and it did great on Netflix,” said Vinciquerra. “For some reason, the press decided that they didn’t want us making these films out of ‘Kraven’ and ‘Madame Web,’ and the critics just destroyed them. They also did it with ‘Venom,’ but the audience loved ‘Venom’ and made ‘Venom’ a massive hit. These are not terrible films. They were just destroyed by the critics in the press, for some reason.”
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He’s not wrong that the press really did crucify “Madame Web” and “Kraven the Hunter.” “Madame Web” currently sits at an abysmal 11% on Rotten Tomatoes, while ‘Kraven’ has a 16%. Clearly, there’s a consensus among critics that both of those films aren’t worth your time. But to blame the box office performance on the critics is a bit silly.
Even in his own statement, he talks about how critics didn’t like the first “Venom” film, but it overcame that to become a box office hit. So, by his own admission, if the fans enjoy it, then it can do well at the box office, despite negative reviews.
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As for the future of the ‘Spider-Man’ spinoff films, Vinciquerra says that there needs to be a change in how they do things because the films are now “snake-bitten.” Again, he also blames the critics because he thinks that no matter what, a new spinoff film will be killed by the press.
“I do think we need to rethink it, just because it’s snake-bitten,” he said. “If we put another one out, it’s going to get destroyed, no matter how good or bad it is.”
It would appear that the current state of Sony’s superhero film franchise is pretty bleak. This was a bad year for the studio, and it looks like there is going to be a pause with releasing new ‘Spider-Man’ spinoff films. We’ll just have to wait and see how the studio proceeds in the new year.