I believe that even those who liked The Amazing Spider-Man 2 would say that a good deal of what made the past Spider-Man films great was missing. Raimi excelled at making compelling villains, even if the romance mostly fell flat due to lackluster chemistry between the two leads (even though the romance was well-written for its part). Webb, in the first one, at least, excelled at the human level: creating real relationships with the characters. Unfortunately, Webb didn't seem to have the time to develop relationships the way he did so masterfully in the first and it led to the second one feeling lackluster, despite Peter Parker and Spider-Man still being [a] strong character[s]. Regardless of the failures of the film itself, it is clear that the financial problems the film had are going to matter more to Sony. Even though The Amazing Spider-Man 2 ended up being profitable, it still had a massive budget reaching into the upper $300 million range with marketing included and made the least out of all of the previous Spider-Man films. This led to The Amazing Spider-Man 3 being pushed back to 2018 and Sinister Six being put in the middle of November of 2016 for its release. It's clear Sony is awknowledging the issue, but what should they do to fully clean up their mess? Well...
Step #1: Place Spider-Man in Captain America 3
Now, this might seem like a long shot but it has been at the forefront of my mind lately. I'll get to some actual proof a little later but let me just dwelve into the hypotheticals here for a little bit: Sony is in a place with Spider-Man that Marvel had gotten into with Iron Man following the disappointing follow-up to Iron Man (and the two films had a lot of other distinct parallels). The great thing about what Marvel was able to do, however, is place Iron Man in a team-up film entitled The Avengers, that had everyone and their dog excited to see it. Arguably the biggest problem The Amazing Spider-Man franchise has is lackluster villains and now Sony is moving forward with an all-villain line-up in its Sinister Six film. Sony doesn't have the time to build up a better relationship with the audience again because they don't have another film coming out. And, they aren't using Spider-Man for anything between now and then. Now, obviously Sony could be depending on decent trailers and good word-of-mouth but they had depended on that already to bring success to The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and we all know how that worked out. If Sinister Six is yet another miss, Sony's cinematic "universe" is done and ka-put (with a capital D and K). Marvel, on the other hand, has been producing hit after hit after hit. The Avengers brought Iron Man 3 to massive levels of success, bringing it to above $1 billion worldwide. Captain America: The Winter Soldier didn't have as heavy of a so-called Avengers effect and it still doubled the worldwide total of its predecessor and then some. With Captain America 3 looking to be in great shape with the same creative team behind it and the fact that it is first Avenger solo film to take place after the sure fire hit Avengers: Age of Ultron (which it is too late to attach Spider-Man to), Captain America 3 might make $1 billion and possibly more. But, more than that, it could revamp Spider-Man's popularity. Sony needs to get some good word-of-mouth going over their franchise and, should Captain America 3 do as well as everyone thinks it will, Sony could use it to make Sinister Six into the hit it needs to be. It also keeps Spider-Man at the forefront of the General Audience's eyes.
However, the question still remains: is it feasible? Well, Sony has nothing to lose and everything to gain. Hell, if Sony were smart, they'd let Marvel take Spider-Man for this one film for free. But, then, the question becomes: what does Marvel get from using Sony's take on Spider-Man. Simple: the chance of getting a financial boost from receiving a team-up film that no one thought was going to happen. Of course, us living in only one single universe can we know if our decisions actually led to some impact but, if Sony is willing to give up Spider-Man for one film with the big boys for free, then it is definitely worth a shot. Still, it would seem like a massive longshot if it weren't for the new quotes from the Russo Brothers when talking the upcoming Captain America sequel:
I love the notion of crossovers. It's certainly a complicated environment in relation to studios, and there is a lot of politics involved to get the characters to cross over. But for me as a comic book fan, that would be something I'd want to see on-screen one day.
However, this is just a quote saying what every director from Joss Whedon to Marc Webb has said about this notion. There isn't anything new in this statement from this wonderfully done article you can find here: http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/MarvelFreshman/news/?a=106798. So, what's the big deal? Well, there is more. When asked about which characters Marvel has the rights to that they could use, they said:
Do they have to be under contract at Marvel? Maybe they are at another studio.
While this is still far and away from confirmation, the fact it keeps coming up as a possibility is certainly a cause for celebration. You can find that lovely article HERE. Story wise, we know there are quite a few connections between Spider-Man and Captain America: S.H.I.E.L.D., Red Skull and the fact they both operate on the East Coast: specifically in New York City. However, this isn't a fan faction, so I won't bother boring you with how I would do it. instead, we'll move onto the next step...
Step #2: Give Drew Goddard Creative Control Over Sinister Six
When it comes to The Amazing Spider-Man franchise, the biggest problem many of us find is that Sony isn't eager enough to let its directors do their own thing. With The Amazing Spider-Man 2, it was clear that Sony meddled with the film in order to set-up its extended universe. Well, now Sony has a chance to make something truly special happen. Give Drew Goddard an end goal: the formation of the Sinister Six and some other key things and, then, let Goddard do his job. I'm not quite sure how a Sinister Six film would work well but, with the creative talents of Goddard, who is directing a screenplay he wrote, there is hardly a better choice for the film. Sony really needs to realize their best two Spider-Man films came from a horror director who was given creative control and no studio meddling to help the process along.
Step #3: Get Black Cat working as her own film
The best thing Sony can do at this point is to do something new: something fresh. Another problem that people have with Sony's new franchise is the fact that the films seem to be a rehash of Raimi's old trilogy. But, there is one thing Raimi, nor any other film company with superheroes, has done really, really well: a female superhero film. If Sony can make a super solid female superhero film, they can not only make another franchise to run concurrently with their The Amazing Spider-Man franchise, but also be the first in line for a new breed of superhero films. Felicity Jones is a super great actress, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 has already set up Felicia and with a good scribe and director it could be something truly special. The best thing Sony can do is to diversify its films and make them interesting to everyone.
Well, there you have it. That is what I think Sony should do to reinvigorate Spider-Man, as a franchise, before the third installment in his own, personal franchise. As always, please comment below but, also as always, keep it courteous and polite. No need for excessive name calling or stating that one person is stupid for having a different opinion than yours. Thanks and have a great day!