“The film is not a bad film”: Sony Pictures CEO Proves Why Their Plan Was Meant to Fail After His ‘Kraven the Hunter’ Remark
- Sony Pictures CEO Tony Vinciquerra defended the failures of 'Kraven the Hunter' and other SSU movies.
- Vinciquerra reasoned that negative press and critics were the causes of failure rather than addressing creative and narrative flaws.
- The lack of Spider-Man in the Spider-Man Universe and the absence of strong shared universe connections have been major criticisms of SSU.
Sony Pictures has been quite ambitious in building a Spider-Man spin-off universe since 2018, but it has been a nightmare. Ever since Venom to the very recent Kraven the Hunter, the studio’s attempts to create a Spidey villain franchise have led to critical failures and box office disappointments.
However, the recent statements made by Sony Pictures CEO Tony Vinciquerra as he is about to leave the position raised some eyebrows. Even while judging recent box office failures, his view of audiences and studios seems disconnected, and it might have been one of the issues that contributed to the failure of Sony’s Spider-Man Universe. (SSU).
Sony defends failed Spider-Man spinoffs
Sony’s Spider-Man Universe has seen six movies- the Venom trilogy, Morbius, Madame Web, and Kraven the Hunter. In a recent interview with the Los Angeles Times, Tony Vinciquerra tried to justify why SSU movies failed to meet the viewers’ expectations.
SSU’s last installment, Kraven the Hunter, made around $43.8 million worldwide (via Box Office Mojo) and is currently rated 17% by the critics and 74% by the audience on Rotten Tomatoes. Defending the failure of the Aaron Taylor-Johnson movie, Vinciquerra said,
We’ve had mostly very, very good results. Unfortunately, [“Kraven the Hunter”] that we launched last weekend, and my last film launch, is probably the worst launch we had in the 7 1/2 years so that didn’t work out very well, which I still don’t understand, because the film is not a bad film.
Moreover, despite being both theatrical and critical flops, the CEO defended other movies like Madame Web, saying,
“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.
After pointing out the negative press reports, Vinciquerra gave Venom as an example where critical reviews were not great, but the movies did decently well. However, it did not explain why the other films could not be a similar success.
Vinciquerra fails to address the essential problems of SSU. Besides being a popular comic book character already, Venom had a popular leading man Tom Hardy, and a very focused view of the character and his world. But movies like Morbius and Madame Web could not be clear enough when it came to plot and position in their shared universe.
Reasons behind Sony’s Spider-Man Universe struggles
It is not only about the negative reviews for Sony’s Spider-Man Universe. The universe itself is named after Spider-Man, and the characters in it get their identity because of Spidey only. The decision to release movies focused only on less popular characters like Madame Web, Morbius, and Kraven the Hunter without the Webslinger has been the biggest criticism for SSU.
Moreover, when it is said Spider-Man Universe, it is expected to be a shared universe like the MCU. However, none of the movies has been connected to form the shared universe experience, although hints were dropped.
Sony’s animated Spider-Verse films have been received well both critically as well as at the box office, as they retain their comic book feel and focus on the solid storyline, and it actually shows Marvel’s most popular superhero. On the other hand, the live-action spinoffs are hard to justify for much more than just being IP exploitation.
Moreover, the characters in SSU often lack connections to their comic book story, characteristics, and origin. Kraven the Hunter simplified a complex character to an action antihero, while Madame Web ignored all the mystical elements.
Instead of accepting these creative issues, Tony Vinciquerra’s remarks sort of suggest that the studio has still not found the real problem of SSU. No further projects are currently planned beyond Kraven the Hunter, and Sony now faces a challenging decision for the future of their superhero franchise.
Madame Web, Morbius, and the Venom trilogy are available to stream on Netflix.
Kraven the Hunter is expected to hit streaming platforms in early 2025.
