By So just what is the future of Sony’s Spider-Man Universe (SSMU), also known as the Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters (SPUMC), in the wake of the opening of “Madame Web”?
Several outlets have been doing post-release analysis of the film’s failure to launch this weekend – taking just $26.2 million in its first six days and snagging both a disastrous 13% Rotten Tomatoes critics score and a woeful C+ CinemaScore from audiences.
THR reports that according to one theatrical chain insider, “you could actually watch advance purchase sales declining in real time” for the film as cinemagoers were refunding their tickets on Wednesday last week.
The outlet adds that Sony had hoped to make a franchise of “Madame Web” films with this first film costing a production budget of $100 million – a good $20 million more than previously reported. That no longer appears to be the case with their source also indicating the current mood on the Sony lot is “gloomy”.
Meanwhile, Puck News is reporting a quote from an anonymous Disney executive which sees both this and “The Marvels” failure as tied to a larger problem with the audience reception for these films:
“More appealing movies are a great way to jump the political issues. But more and more, our audience (or the segment of the audience that has been politicized) equates the perceived messaging in a film as a quality issue.
They won’t say they find female empowerment distasteful in The Marvels or Star Wars, but they will say they don’t like those movies because they are ‘bad.’ So ‘make better movies’ becomes code for ‘make movies that conform to regressive gender stereotypes or put men front and center in the narrative.’ Which is what you’re seeing now and what Bob [Iger]’s pivot is about right now.”
The other narrative being discussed is the overall superhero fatigue issue as, the strong performance of “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” and “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” aside, at least a half dozen superhero films underperformed badly last year – be they male or female-led.
Though Marvel Studios is expected to have a hit on its hands with “Deadpool & Wolverine,” Sony has two more Marvel films due this year with “Kraven the Hunter” and a third “Venom” and their potential fate unfortunately looks not so great.
This might be why the rumors have swirled this weekend regarding Sony pushing to have a “Spider-Man 4” in cinemas by end of 2025, even though Marvel seems not so keen on the idea.
Whatever the case, “Madame Web” is in cinemas for the moment at least and its box-office fate in the coming weeks will be watched closely.
The post Sony Scraps Future “Madame Web” Plans? appeared first on Dark Horizons.
