Despite agreeing to share Spider-Man with Marvel Studios after The Amazing Spider-Man 2 served as an abrupt end to that franchise, Sony Pictures decided to forge ahead with its own slate of Marvel movies.
It's hard to blame the studio, as the genre had become a guaranteed money-maker. That was apparent from Venom grossing $856 million in 2018 despite largely negative reviews. However, with Avi Arad calling the shots, Sony hasn't exactly delivered quality comic book adaptations.
Venom: Let There Be Carnage and Venom: The Last Dance were middling efforts in the eyes of many critics and fans, but the likes of Morbius, Madame Web, and Kraven the Hunter were outright disasters (oddly, the animated Spider-Verse movies rank among the best superhero movies ever).
Sony, along with Warner Bros.' DCEU titles and Marvel Studios' flood of MCU content, has contributed to the "superhero fatigue" issue plaguing Hollywood. Now, Sony Pictures CEO Ravi Ahuja has acknowledged that the bar has been raised when it comes to delivering a successful Marvel blockbuster.
"There was a period of time where anything superhero was almost guaranteed to do well," he said. "I think [the bar] for superhero movies, it was relatively low. In the mid-2010s, pretty much all of them would do incredible business, but now even superhero movies have to have a degree of originality."
"They have to add something different. They have to have [n] emotional connection. They have to be cultural events that can be marketed that way," Ahuja added, expressing optimism that Spider-Man: Brand New Day will do well for Sony.
Still, he's always aware that "you can’t make a bad movie," suggesting the studio has learned its lesson from the diminishing returns of its previous Marvel output. The fact is, Sony has access to a spectacular roster of characters, and if they're handled well (imagine a movie led by Spider-Man's clone, Ben Reilly), we could be in store for some amazing results.
Addressing Hollywood's overall struggles, Ahuja later said, "It’s a bit of marketing, but it’s making it an event that people want to go out to theaters and watch together as well. That’s always been the case. I think it’s just even tougher than it used to be."
Sony has put its Marvel movies on hold after Kraven the Hunter flopped, though Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse is on the way, as is a Spider-Noir TV series. Will the studio finally start taking advantage of its spider-themed heroes?
That's the hope, though whether Sony can be trusted not to tarnish the "Spider-" brand is hard to say. If one thing should be clear to Ahuja, it's that Arad needs to go...