MarvelBlog News for December 8th, 2024

This week, Sony tries again, as Kraven the Hunter finally debuts in theaters after a long, grueling road.

We’ll talk about what’s in store for the next film in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe.

A Struggling Brand

In 2014, Sony embarked on an ambitious plan. The studio saw what Disney was doing and wanted a taste.

So, Sony announced that it would create its own version of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

At the time, the idea seemed clever, as Fox had proven successful with its own batch of Marvel movies, too.

Remember that this was five years before Disney swallowed Fox’s media assets.

At the time, Fox films were thriving, with titles like The Wolverine and X-Men: Days of Future Past earning back exponents of their production budgets.

Sony figured that if Fox could make a fortune with the X-Men, Spider-Men would do even better. It always did in the past.

The plan called for Sony to create villainous origin stories for several members of Spidey’s rogues’ gallery.

Then, that nefarious group would ultimately band together to try to stop Spidey once and for all.

Sony had watched what Disney was doing with Thanos and the Infinity Stones and tried to mimic the idea.

Alas, there were…several problems. The first of them was that Andrew Garfield was Spider-Man at the time.

Right now, Garfield is enjoying a career resurgence thanks to his work in Spider-Man: No Way Home.

In 2014, fans were turning up their noses at the upcoming film, The Amazing Spider-Man 2.

While financially successful, that title failed to meet even the lowest box office expectations and is widely considered a disappointment.

Even worse, the popularity for the Spider-Man brand bottomed out, forcing Sony to cancel a planned sequel.

Not only did Sony lack the justification to make the villainous films, it lacked Spider-Man as well. The brand was in crisis.

What you may have noticed is that the premise never died, though.

A Rebooted Attempt by Sony

By 2015, Sony had turned desperate, underscoring that a lot can happen in a year.

Realizing that their money train had careened off the tracks, Sony went to Marvel and cut a deal.

Sony would share some of its Spider-Man movie profits with Marvel in exchange for Kevin Feige’s team helping with content.

Over the past nine years, it’s easy to tell which titles Marvel has worked on the most versus which ones were largely Sony.

Still, the unusual agreement paid immediate dividends, as Marvel and Sony agreed on a new Spider-Man: Tom Holland.

I think we can all agree that his casting was a masterstroke and the move that singlehandedly reversed Sony’s fortunes. Well, Zendaya helped.

Anyway, by 2017, Sony knew it had a hit on its hands with Spider-Man: Homecoming and felt confident enough to circle back to the original idea.

Sony signed Tom Hardy to play Venom, a second consecutive smart move. Suddenly, the company was in good shape again.

A Turn for the Worse

So, Sony grew bolder and announced several potential anti-hero projects, including one, El Muerto, that never came to fruition.

I mention that one because I believe the presence of Bad Bunny would have proven enough of a draw to overcome Sony’s shortcomings.

Conversely, other moves proved questionable almost immediately. Yes, I mean Morbius.

I couldn’t find a film analyst I trusted who believed that Morbius was a good idea.

Now, I could say the same for Guardians of the Galaxy in the early 2010s, but at least the idea made sense. Those characters made good toys.

Morbius brings nothing to the table, and the 21st-century box office is littered with failed big-budget gothic projects.

The remarkable part is that even after Morbius failed, Sony misread the zeitgeist and re-released the film.

At the time, Sony believed that the movie’s meme mockery had turned it into a sleeper hit.

Sometimes, you have to wonder what Sony is thinking. I know I do.

Even worse, Sony followed that film with Madame Web, a movie whose appeal I don’t think anybody understands to this day.

Along the way, the studio has managed two successful Venom sequels, which helps.

However, the idea of a joint anti-Spidey team-up appears lost in a slew of failures, although one hope ostensibly remains…

Kraven the Hunter Arrives

At what point does someone stop being fashionably late and simply become super-tardy?

I ask that question because the idea for Kraven the Hunter started in 2014…arguably even sooner.

Sam Raimi reportedly wanted to use the character in Spider-Man 4, the film he never got to make (yet).

When Sony provided a teaser reel for its new cinematic universe, Kraven was one of the characters shown. That was ten years ago!

Since nothing came of that premise, Sony re-announced it (!!!) in 2017, again mentioning Kraven. Friends, we’re three weeks away from 2025.

Sony could have cast a 10-year-old when Sam Raimi was involved, and that kid would be old enough to play Kraven now.

This is one of the slowest-developing projects ever to actually get made. Not even joking.

Part of the problem has been all the delays and negative press. Sony filmed Kraven the Hunter in February 2022. That’s almost three years ago.

The studio panicked pretty much from the start, hating the dailies and knowing the project wasn’t working.

Filming wrapped in June 2022, but it didn’t stop there. Rumors have persisted of reshoots and horrific test scores.

Now, Kraven the Hunter will debut with the lowest venue count a Sony-Marvel movie has had in the modern era.

Sony will allow the publication of reviews, which is a better sign than expected, but they won’t go live until Wednesday afternoon.

If Sony expected better scores, it’d allow reviews sooner. So, the writing appears to be on the wall here.

Still, we never really know. So, this should prove to be a big week for Sony as we learn whether Kraven has somehow overcome its negative buzz.

I think you can tell I’m not holding out much hope, but we’ll discuss the box office in detail next week.

Marvel Miscellany

We’re entering the slow news season, but there are still a couple of important items this week.

For starters, Venom: The Last Dance will make its digital debut on Tuesday.

That’s a clever way for Sony to boost its quarterly numbers in case Kraven goes the way most people expect.

Please remember that this is the digital sales date, though.

Venom 3 won’t be available to stream on a service for another several weeks.

Meanwhile, the funniest story of the week involves Rita Ora. Reportedly, the musician turned actress should have said less.

She was at a recent awards gala when a reporter overheard her gushing about her new role as a Marvel villain.

I’ll add that a handful of other performers thought they were in Marvel films, only to learn later that their roles had been cut.

Since we don’t know anything about the size of the role, nothing is assured yet, but the sister from 50 Shades of Grey sure thinks she’s in the MCU.

 

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