After three bombs out of four, Sony has announced the death of its Spider-Man Villain Universe franchise.
Because Disney owns the rights to pretty much every other Marvel character, Sony has one: Spider-Man, and that includes the characters in that narrow universe. Looking to suck the marrow out of that narrow universe after seeing all the money Marvel Studios was raking in, Sony decided to turn to the Spider-Man villains for cinematic product.
The first installment, 2018’s Venom starring Tom Hardy, was a monster hit, clearing $856 million worldwide. Then came the sequel, 2021’s Venom: Let There Be Carnage, which did okay at $507 million worldwide. Then it all came apart…
The following year, Morbius bombed with just $168 million worldwide. Madame Web (2024) was a total debacle taking in just $101 million worldwide. The third Venom chapter, Venom: The Last Dance (2024) did okay with $473 million worldwide. But Kraven the Hunter, which hit theaters this weekend and is projected to open to just $13 to $15 million domestic, is the last straw.
Sony deserves credit for keeping the budgets on these films within reason, anywhere from $100 to $120 million, which is pretty cheap for a comic book movie. The problem is that even with those reasonable budgets, once you add promotion costs, the studio probably lost around $300 million on those three bombs and barely broke even with Venom 3.
Sony now intends to stop with the villains and stick to its main character, Spider-Man, through movies starring Tom Holland, animated features, and something called Spider-Man Noir starring Nicolas Cage.
Granted, I only bothered to watch one of these villain movies, Morbius, and it stunk. Still, I don’t blame the concept or the acting. The problem was a dull story and script. Why must it always be an origin story? Why can’t we jump into the middle of the action and then use a few lines of dialogue to explain how Kraven and Madame Web and Morbius became Kraven and Madame Web and Morbius? Instead, we’re always bogged down in these boilerplate stories about how so-and-so became so-and-so.
Sadly, there’s no proof the comic book genre is running out of gas. Deadpool and Wolverine proved that this year. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-verse and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, proved that last year. The problem is lousy comic book movies. Hollywood and its sycophants will never admit that, but good commercial movies tend to find an audience.
Personally, I’d be thrilled if superhero fatigue was real. Fifteen years of the same crap is enough.
So the Spider-Man Villain Universe now joins the DC Extended Universe on the scrap heap. It is now just the DC Universe with James Gunn in charge. Marvel is also rebooting somewhat by bringing back Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans as different characters. Marvel went woke, which killed the golden goose, so it’s back to the straight white guys.
Last night I watched The Sons of Katie Elder (1965) and Garbo Talks (1984). You can keep your capeshit.
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