‘It’s snake-bitten’: Sony CEO doesn’t understand why the Spider-Man spin offs movies failed
Sony is thinking of changing up their approach to Spider-Man stories. What spurred that on? Maybe the consistently mediocre movies they were pushing WITHOUT a Spider-Man in them?
As someone who did like the Spider-Man spin off movies, I also recognized that they were not high art. Or even high quality superhero movies. They were chaotic, weird, and at times, fun. But Sony’s CEO is…incorrect about press reactions.
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Sony Pictures CEO Tony Vinciquerra was asked about the company’s strategy for the Spider-Man movies going forward. “I do think we need to rethink it, just because it’s snake-bitten. If we put another one out, it’s going to get destroyed, no matter how good or bad it is.”
He also talked about the press reaction to Madame Web. That movie was bad, as much fun as I had with it, it was not a good movie. It had elements that I loved, like Adam Scott as Uncle Ben, but the movie itself logistically made no sense. According to Vinciquerra, he thinks that the press reaction to the movie resulted in the bad reaction to the film. Madame Web‘s audience score on Rotten Tomatoes is at 55%.
“Let’s just touch on Madame Web for a moment. 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,” he said. “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.”
It’s not snake-bitten, you made bad movies
Look, I have often talked about how these movies are made for fans like me. I love Spider-Man so much and will watch anything in the world of my favorite boy from Queens. But what I do think is weird is that Sony continued to push these movies into critics circles that dogged on them and marketed them as movies that were on-par with other superhero films.
These are those mid-tier superhero movies we used to get in the early 2000s. If Madame Web came out around the release of Daredevil? We’d be thriving. Putting this on critics when we’ve SEEN what a good superhero movie is like is…foolish. You guys have made some of the best Spider-Man movies with Tom Holland’s Peter Parker and yet you cannot understand why these movies didn’t do great?
I understand that Vinciquerra thinks that critics played a part. Sure, the online hatred probably didn’t help but if you make GOOD Spider-Man movies, people will go. Do you know how I know as a critic? Because I am a fan of that world. I want to see all my favorite characters have their time. Where is my Black Cat movie?
What happens with these spin off movies is that the studio has to fix the problem that is the lack of a Spider-Man in them. Then, we end up with Kraven the Hunter with super powers WHICH HE DOES NOT HAVE. So then fans of Spidey are angry and we rightfully say these movies are bad! Again, coming from someone who DOES like them.
Maybe Vinciquerra should listen to the criticisms against the films and not just say “critics hate them.” Because it is definitely a bigger problem than that.
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