By Tony Vinciquerra took over as CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment in 2017 and with it came some successes – revivals of the “Bad Boys” and “Jumanji” franchises, new success with “Spider-Man” and the “Spider-Verse” films, and more.
But there were also missteps, the most notable being the failed attempts at building their own little Marvel universe made of “Spider-Man” supporting characters.
Though “Venom” was a box-office success, everything else tried from “Morbius” to “Madame Web” was a flop, culminating with “Kraven the Hunter” this month which bombed on arrival and signaled an end to the initiative.
In a new interview with The Los Angeles Times a few days before he exits his role in the New Year, Vinciquerra revealed that “Kraven” was “probably the worst launch we had” under his 7+ year tenure. He adds: “I still don’t understand, because the film is not a bad film”. When asked about “Madame Web” he says:
“Let’s just touch on “Madame Web” for a moment. “Madame Web” underperformed in the theaters because the press just crucified it. It was not a bad film, and it did great on Netflix.
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.”
As for whether their “Spider-Man” universe strategy needs to be rethought, he says:
“I do think we need to rethink it, just because it’s snake-bitten. If we put another one out, it’s going to get destroyed, no matter how good or bad it is.”
For now, no further “Spider-Man” spin-off films are planned at Sony.
The post Sony Pictures CEO Talks Their Marvel Failures appeared first on Dark Horizons.
