Sony Promise A Spider-Man Universe Reboot Following Critical & Commerical Failures
Tom Hardy stars as Eddie Brock/Venom in Columbia Pictures VENOM: THE LAST DANCE.
During a sit-down with Matt Belloni’s The Town, Sony Pictures CEO Tom Rothman shared news that has rejuvenated the Spider-Man world at Sony following the poor performance of the spin-offs.
Belloni was asked where things stand with the company’s version of the Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man after fans reacted poorly to 2022’s Morbius, 2024’s Madame Web, Venom: The Last Dance and Kraven the Hunter and stated that there will be a complete reset of the SSU.
He also confirmed that a deal with Marvel’s MCU, which has its own version of Spider-Man in Tom Holland, holds a“big upside for” the company.
“It’s been one of the great deals for both companies ever,” Belloni added. “A true win-win deal.”
The CEO also reportedly shared that the last MCU Spider-Man film, No Way Home, was anticipated to break $2 billion at the box office, but an inability to get a China release prohibited this goal. Instead, the 2021 film grossed a total of $1.9 billion.
“They just [said] small thing. They said, ‘No problem. just cut out the Statue of Liberty, which is where the climax takes place. That was the request,” Belloni explained as the reason, with this image taking place in the film’s final 20 minutes. “I really didn’t look forward to standing up, sitting in there in front of Congress, telling them why I cut the Statue of Liberty out at the request of the Chinese Communist Party.”
Sony’s Spider-Man films include a total budget of $595-639 million across the six films, with a total box office of $2.17 billion. Additional titles include 2018’s Venom and its 2021 sequel, Venom: Let There Be Carnage. The last four films saw a poor critical performance and box office disappointments, as well as online scrutiny from fans in the form of mocking specific lines and other elements of the films.
Morbius made $84.5 million more than its budget, but it also earned five Golden Raspberry Award nominations and has a Rotten Tomatoes score of 15%. Madame Web received online mockery for its dialogue and wooden performances, only topped its budget by $20 million, and also earned Golden Raspberry Award nods (winning Worst Screenplay and Worst Actress for star Dakota Johnson). Meanwhile, Kraven the Hunter bombed at the box office with a gross of $62 million against a $130 million budget. This was the final nail in the coffin for the original SSU, with director J.C Chandor stating: “It’s obviously very tragic and sad… but the character we’re trying to create is one who could realistically, if this film is a success, end with Last Hunt.”
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