It's Officially The End Of An Era For Sony's Spider-Man Universe
Don't expect Sony's Spider-Man Universe back on screen any time soon.
Largely spearheaded by producing trio Avi Arad, Matt Tolmach and Amy Pascal, the franchise acted as a standalone universe to the eponymous Marvel webslinger, first kicking off with the Tom Hardy-fronted Venom in 2018. Thanks to its mammoth box office success, the franchise went on to spawn two sequels to his film, which were similarly successful at the box office, as well as the Jared Leto-starring Morbius, Dakota Johnson-led Madame Web and Aaron Taylor-Johnson-starring Kraven the Hunter, all of which were critical and commercial disasters.
In a recent interview with Variety for the record-breaking Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Sony boss Tom Rothman was asked about the status of Sony's Spider-Man Universe. The studio exec began by acknowledging that the franchise's various missteps at the box office largely came down to the fact that "the audience wasn't satisfied enough" with the films, though admits that he's uncertain "whether that's a fair assessment of those movies."
Rothman went on to confirm that, for the time being, "we don't know" what the future looks like for the SSU, as he calls the audience "the boss" in determining what the studio should move ahead with, and that "they didn't respond" to the majority of the six films released thus far:
Tom Rothman: We never looked at it as the “Sony-Marvel Universe.” We looked at if there were worthwhile movies to make with other characters. At the moment, there are none in active development.
It certainly shouldn't come as too much of a surprise that Sony's Spider-Man Universe looks to be all but dead in the water as of now. The Venom franchise trilogy may not have been well-received by critics, but was undeniably a financial success through and through, while no other installment could recoup their finances at the box office. See how the SSU's installments compared to one another on Rotten Tomatoes and at the box office in the chart below:
|
Title |
Rotten Tomatoes Critics Score |
Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score |
Box Office |
Production Budget |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Venom (2018) |
31% |
80% |
$856 Million |
$100-116 Million |
|
Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021) |
58% |
83% |
$506.8 Million |
$110 Million |
|
Morbius (2022) |
15% |
71% |
$167.4 Million |
$75-83 Million |
|
Madame Web (2024) |
10% |
53% |
$100.4 Million |
$80 Million |
|
Venom: The Last Dance (2024) |
40% |
79% |
$478.9 Million |
$120 Million |
|
Kraven the Hunter (2024) |
15% |
72% |
$61.9 Million |
$110-130 Million |
Prior to Rothman's comments, the writing seemed further on the wall as Sony quietly began shelving a variety of SSU projects that had been in development for some time. This included everything from Olivia Wilde's rumored Spider-Woman movie, that was once reported as a "high priority" for the studio, to Bad Bunny's El Muerto going from having a January 2024 scheduled release date to being pulled from Sony's schedule and the Bullet Train alum seemingly departing shortly thereafter.
The latest indication from Rothman that the SSU is dead interestingly conflicts with his most recent previous statement back in February that the studio was working on "a fresh reboot" of the franchise with new actors taking on the various Marvel characters. This came shortly after it was revealed that an animated Venom movie was in the works with Final Destination Bloodlines duo Zach Lipovsky and Adam B. Stein directing, while Hardy is expected to be involved creatively in some capacity, though is unclear if he'll star in the film.
Given Sony's Spider-Man Universe has largely coincided its titles with Tom Holland's Marvel Cinematic Universe outings, as there are no new titles in the works for it, it officially marks the end of an era for the spinoff franchise. Given Rothman also doesn't appear to be looking at the aforementioned new Venom movie as part of the SSU, it could further cement that Hardy's time acting as the antihero is done.