Sony has been trying to create its own Marvel universe since 2018,but that works rather poorly than well.While at least the Venom series with Tom Hardy brought a lot of money into the coffers, things looked completely different with Morbius, Madame Web and Kraven.
The films in question were not only torn apart by critics and viewers, they also all failed at the box office. Last laid in 2024two out of three new filmsthe so-called SSU (Sony's Spider-Man Universe) crash-landed:
- was only able to gross 100 million worldwide on a budget of 80 million US dollars.
- is said to have cost between 110 and 130 million US dollars, but to date has only been able to recoup just under 54 million.
Who is to blame? Apparently not Sony
Sony CEO Tony Vinciquerra has now commented on thisLos Angeles Timesexpressed. Vinciquerra admits that Kraven is probably the worst theatrical release of a Sony film under his command. However, he believes that it is not due to the quality of Kraven.Instead, he blames critics:
[Kraven] didn't work, which I still don't understand because the movie isn't bad at all. [...] Let's also talk briefly about Madame Web: Madame Web also didn't deliver at the box office because the press simply crucified it. This isn't a bad film either and has been watched a lot on Netflix!
For some reason the press decided they didn't want us to make these films [...] and so critics just destroyed them. The same was the case with Venom, but the audience loves Venom and it became a huge hit. These aren't terrible films! For some reason they were just trashed by critics and the press. [...]
Here the child has already fallen into the well: If we release another one, it will be torn apart again - no matter how good or bad the film turns out.
After six out of six films triggered a muted reaction from critics and viewers and three of them failed at the box office, Vinciquerra sees the responsibility for this on others -and not at the studio under his direction.
Sony is currently said to be, in which Spider-Man also plays a role. For example, the fourth MCU film with Tom Holland as Peter Parker, the Amazon series Spider-Noir with Nicolas Cage or Beyond the Spider-Verse.
Sooner or later, Sony is likely to continue its own Marvel universe- if only so as not to lose the license to the superheroes and villains. At the moment there are no details about this and Tony Vinciquerra at least suggests that they are rethinking their own strategy in this regard.
There are no new SSU films lurking on the horizon at the moment, while things will continue at full speed in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2025: nine new films and TV series will be released - such as Captain America 4, Thunderbolts, Daredevil: Born Again, Fantastic Four or Ironheart.
You can read more about this under the links above.
