We recently reported on a rumour that Sony was done with its Spider-Man universe of movies that included the Venom trilogy, Madame Web, Morbius and the recent Kraven The Hunter. More information surrounding the universe’s untimely downfall have now surfaced, claiming that Sony could’ve used MCU Spider-Man actor Tom Holland all along in its universe but Sony didn’t think audiences wanted that in a non-MCU project, despite plenty of demands for the webslinger to make an appearance.
Variety reports that Sony’s Spider-Man universe could’ve actually featured Tom Holland and other heroic characters like Gwen Stacey and Mary Jane. The deal signed with Disney didn’t outline that Sony couldn’t use these characters, which means the studio intentionally avoided adding Holland to the universe.
Sony decided to focus on Spider-Man’s villains instead, probably due to the high box office intake for the first Venom movie which might’ve given Sony the idea that audiences wanted more standalone villain stories instead of movies featuring Spider-Man in them. Exhibitor Relations analyst Jeff Bock had a similar opinion, telling Variety, “Unfortunately for Sony, they had a taste of success with Venom, and that kind of spoiled everything for them, because they thought they could just spin off all of these characters… To not have Spider-Man in these films was the fatal flaw.”
The critical reception and poor box office numbers outside of the Venom trilogy really speak for itself. Characters like Madame Web and Morbius simply weren’t captivating enough to get audiences into theatres at the time, especially without Spider-Man involved in some way. Despite Sony’s best (and last) efforts to market this month’s Kraven The Hunter, it also seems destined to be another box office failure.
If you’re interested, both Venom: The Last Dance and Kraven The Hunter are in cinemas in South Africa right now. See what else is in cinemas this month.
Source: Variety
