The SSU (Sony's Spider-Man Universe) kicked off in 2018 with the release of Venom. While the movie drew mixed reviews from fans and critics, it was a box office hit with over $850 million worldwide.
Venom: Let There Be Carnage followed three years later and, despite being released at a time when people were reluctant to return to theaters after the pandemic, the sequel made a respectable $500 million by the end of its run.
What followed were considerably less successful movies as Morbius and Madame Web both bombed with $167.5 million and $100.5 million, respectively (and yes, those are global numbers).
This weekend, Venom: The Last Dance reached $394 million worldwide on track to an eventual $500 million haul. While that's not a spectacular result, it's more than enough to ensure the threequel turns a profit thanks to a modest $120 million production budget.
Courtesy of the movie's surprise success, Sony's Spider-Man Universe has reached $2 billion worldwide, a huge box office benchmark...that the Venom franchise has contributed more than $1.7 billion to.
The Lethal Protector has done almost all of the heavy lifting for this franchise, and we don't anticipate Kraven the Hunter adding a huge amount to that $2 billion haul this December. It not only faces stiff competition from several other winter movies but interest in the R-Rated spin-off appears muted, particularly among comic book fans who would rather see Kraven battle Spider-Man.
And, with just over a month to go before it opens in theaters, it's fair to say Sony's marketing campaign has been lacklustre at best thus far.
Regardless, the SSU making $2 billion without Spider-Man is undeniably impressive. The web-slinger showed up in Venom: Let There Be Carnage's post-credits scene for a few seconds and graffiti featuring Tobey Maguire's Variant was ultimately cut from Morbius.
Jackpot, El Muerto, the Sinister Six, Nightwatch, Spider-Woman, Black Cat, and Silver Sable are just some of the characters rumoured to be in line for their own movies. However, none of those projects currently appear close to happening, meaning Sony has no officially announced SSU offerings on the way as we write this.
The undated Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse and Amazon's Spider-Noir TV show are still on the way.
"The most cinematic, monumental Venom movie to date, we said in our recent review of the movie, "The Last Dance leaves room for improvement but by upping the stakes and allowing Eddie and Venom to bond, it’s epic and heartfelt enough to leave us hoping this is far from Tom Hardy’s last whirl as the Lethal Protector."
Looking to the future, Venom 4 seems the most likely next step for the studio and recent rumours point to that revolving around Flash Thompson's Agent Venom in place of Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock.
However, if other reports are to be believed, he'll be busy with 2026's Spider-Man 4...