Though there might still be some life in Sony Pictures' SSU, the franchise will be getting a major overhaul (at the very least) following the abysmal box office performance of the latest Spider-Man-less Spider-Man spin-off, Kraven the Hunter.
We're not sure how much any new take on the SSU would actually be improved, however, as it doesn't sound like the studio's CEO is willing to admit that the quality of the movies has anything to do with them flopping at the BO.
While speaking to the Los Angeles Times, Sony Pictures CEO Tony Vinciquerra admitted that Kraven is “probably the worst launch we had” in the nearly eight years he’s been at the studio. “I still don’t understand," he added. "Because the film is not a bad film.”
The movie's 15% Rotten Tomatoes score would suggest that the majority of critics would disagree.
The Spider-Man films aside, none of the studio's live-action Marvel-based movies were hits with the critics, although the first two Venom movies were box office successes, and the recent The Last Dance performed a lot better than Kraven, Morbius and Madame Web.
“Let’s just touch on Madame Web for a moment,” Vinciquerra continued. “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.”
Vinciquerra is obviously entitled to his opinion, but it seems a little short-sighted and stubborn not to at least acknowledge the possibility that critics and audiences didn't like the movies because... they're not very good.
Sony insiders have said that the studio will be "more discerning about which — if any — of the studio’s stable of Spider-Man characters should be elevated into their own movie franchise," but Vinciquerra clearly believes critics are biased towards these movies and wouldn't give any future SSU instalments a fair shake.
“It’s snake-bitten. If we put another one out, it’s going to get destroyed, no matter how good or bad it is.”
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“Kraven the Hunter is the visceral story about how and why one of Marvel’s most iconic villains came to be. Set before his notorious vendetta with Spider-Man, Aaron Taylor-Johnson stars as the titular character in the R-rated film.”
Kraven the Hunter is an upcoming American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name, produced by Columbia Pictures in association with Marvel Entertainment. Distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing, it is intended to be the sixth film in Sony's Spider-Man Universe (SSU). The film was directed by J. C. Chandor and written by Art Marcum, Matt Holloway, and Richard Wenk.
In addition to Aaron Taylor-Johnson in the title role, Ariana DeBose will play Calypso, a voodoo priestess and Kraven's on-off love interest (in the comics, at least); Fred Hechinger is Dmitri Smerdyakov, aka the Chameleon, who is Kraven's half-brother; Alessandro Nivola will play Aleksei Sytsevich, aka the Rhino, and Christopher Abbott will portray another villain known as the Foreigner.
The movie has been rated R for "Strong bloody violence, and language."