Sony’s CEO has broken cover to address the underwhelming box office performance and critical reception of the company’sSpider-Man spin-off movies, laying the blame at the feet of critics who “destroyed” theMarvelfilms.
Outgoing executive Tony Vinciquerra, who joined the company in 2017 to oversee a difficult period in the wake of the now infamous 2014 cyber attack that damaged the studio. Asked about his tenure, Vinciquerra told theLA Timesthat the recent release ofKraven The Hunter"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."
Pressed for more on the performance of the Spider-Man spin-off universe (Sony’s SSU), Vinciquerra was bullish in addressing what he believes is to blame:
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. 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.
Further, The LA Times asked the executive whether he believes the Spider-Man universe strategy needs to be rethought, again suggesting that critics have an agenda against the SSU movies, and suggesting that critical response would be unfairly biased, no matter how good anyfuture Spider-Man spin-offswould be:
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.
What The Sony CEO’s Comments Mean
Vinciquerra’s comments about the critical reception of the Sony Spider-Man universe movies are a fair assessment based solely on the Rotten Tomatoes scores - as long as you ignore the Spider-Verse movies. They’re somewhat separate, of course, thanks to the medium, but are perhaps best considered annexes of the main SSU (and the MCU). But taking ineverything else from 2018’sVenomthrough toKraven,the scores are notably poor, topping out withVenom: Let There Be Carnage’s 58%.
30%
80%
58%
84%
15%
71%
11%
55%
41%
81%
73%
In comparison, theSpider-Versemovies both sit in the 90% Critics Score bracket, with similar Audience Scores (both 94% currently). There is some debate whether reviews actually impact the performance of movies, but it’s unquestionable that word of mouth is a factor.Venomis the outlier for Sony, because it took more than $850m globally, despite scoring only 30% on Rotten Tomatoes. Likewise, movies like David Ayer’sSuicide Squadvery nearly crossed $750m with just 26% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Every single Sony Spider-Man spin-off performed way better in Audience Score terms, with fairly massive swings, suggesting that the general audience did not agree with critical consensus. That suggests thatmore of those who saw them (whether in cinemas or on streaming), liked the movies,which fits the trend for pretty much all movies on Rotten Tomatoes. Suggesting that there is correlation between those higher scores and the negative impact of earlier critical scores on the box office performance of those movies is an intriguing question, and forms the basis of Vinciquerra’s argument.
At the moment, Sony’s plans for more Spider-Man spin-offs appear to be on ice, despiteVenom: The Last Dance’s endingsetting up a bigger story for Knull. What is certain is that other thanBeyond The Spider-Verse, Sony currently has no confirmed plans for more. If the studio wants to retain the rights to the characters, though, the universe has to be active, whether its rebooted or not.
Our Take On Spider-Man’s Spin-Off Failure
There are several points here to consider, as objectively as possible: first, areVenom,Madame Web,Kraven, and the other Sony Spider-Man movies bad films? If we’re talking universally, the answer is no.Venomis genuinely good, even if it lacks the punch of a great villain;Let There Be Carnageis painfully forgettable;Venom: The Last Danceis mostly fine;Kravenhas its moments, but is mostly misguided; butMadame Webis poor, andMorbius- which Vinciquerra conspicuously fails to mention at all - is notorious for good reason.
The second point is how Sony’s movies were marketed: Morbius' marketing included a Spider-Man reference that was added solely for the trailers, and a post-credits scene mentioning him that went nowhere. AndMadame Web, Morbius, and even Kraven are odd choices for lead characters without the character whose decades of comics lore justified their existencein the first place.
The difference between critical reviews and the opinions of “normal” audience members is obviously an important question, because it brings scrutiny to the purpose of critics. There is not something more nefarious at play here: there may be a race to the gutter in some circles of social media and on YouTube in particular to throw out caustic, negative reactions, but any suggestion of a broad-strokes conspiracy theory is difficult to back up. Stoking an audience vs critics war is also a little dangerous, frankly.
