MarvelBlog News for December 22nd, 2024
This week: Sony licks its wounds and chooses new directors while the MCU prepares for a huge year.
We have clear winners and losers in the latest batch of MarvelBlog News.
Flailing Sony Pictures Decides What’s Next
A week ago at this time, we discussed the shocking failure of Kraven the Hunter.
Now, when I say shocking, I should state terms. Readers of this site have known for two years that the film would bomb.
I’ve warned you loudly and often that Sony knew it had missed the mark badly here.
Still, the expectation was the film would open to a modest $25-$30 million and then run throughout the holiday season.
In a perfect world, Kraven the Hunter would earn $100 million domestically and enough worldwide to justify its $120 million budget.
Depending on the domestic/international splits, that’s probably a total of $300-$350 million.
Well, we’re ten days into Kraven’s release, and those numbers already look like a pipe dream.
The tracking for the film did something unusual, FALLING as its release date approached.
That meant the more fans saw of the film, the less they wanted to watch it.
After tracking better, Kraven the Hunter entered the weekend anticipating a $15 million performance.
After ten days in theaters, the Sony comic book title had gained…$17.3 million. So, yeah. Debacle.
The film is already limping along with $500k weekdays, making it a box office irrelevance.
So, the question at Sony becomes, “What’s next?” And that one’s brutal to answer.
Already, unknowing sources are pretending like they have inside information about Sony selling Spider-Man back to Marvel.
Let me be clear that nobody knows anything on this front other than Bob Iger, Kevin Feige, and whoever’s job is safe at Sony.
Right now, that’s nobody in the film studio C-suite. So, Japan will likely make the final call on that discussion, should it ever happen.
Instead, the currently employed at Sony are planning for the infinite possibilities of tomorrow, and some of the ideas are good.
What We Just Learned and Heard
Let’s start with the big story. As you may recall, Spider-Verse 3 is supposed to be coming out in March.
This past week, Sony finally hired a director. So, that tells you plenty about how well this project is going.
Following up arguably the best animated comic book movie ever is no small feat, and the job comes with tremendous pressure.
Sony has chosen Bob Persichetti and Justin K. Thompson to land this plane.
Persichetti previously co-directed Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, making this familiar territory for him.
While most fans and critics would agree that the sequel is better, Into the Spider-Verse set the tone for the two movies.
As for Thompson, he was one of the three co-directors for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.
So, the DNA here is clear. We’ve got directors from the first and second films trying to stick the landing on the third one.
Right now, I’m once again hopeful about this project after a VERY shaky 18 months of turmoil.
More Sony Concerns
Then, we have Spider-Man 4, which is facing one of Hollywood’s worst problems: availability.
Have you ever watched Euphoria on HBO/Max? Well, there’s a reason why we haven’t gotten a third season.
First, Zendaya’s career soared in popularity. Then, Sydney Sweeney became Hollywood’s new It Girl.
HBO would have to pay them exponentially more to entice either actress to return for a third season, and they’d need the free time.
Neither one has the latter, which brings us to Sony. In real life, Tom Holland and Zendaya remain a couple.
Onscreen, MJ doesn’t remember Peter Parker, which Sony thinks plays to its advantage.
Current plans for Spider-Man 4 would dial down Zendaya’s presence since she’s not free to film the whole thing anyway.
That’s the current belief anyway. I HAVE to think that Sony knows this is a terrible idea. Spider-Man 4 needs Zendaya.
Similarly, I’d like to think that Zendaya doesn’t want the franchise that brought her and her partner together to collapse. That’d be sad.
So, I presume the whole thing is just posturing. If it’s not and Zendaya isn’t in Spider-Man 4 much, Sony is screwing up yet again.
Since Spider-Man is the golden goose franchise for Sony, I’m giving them the benefit of the doubt here.
The counterpoint is that absolutely flabbergasting story about Kraven the Hunter and Madame Web, though.
Like, what even is this? “Recently, we heard about Madame Web‘s set of problems: Last-minute cuts of 20 to 30 pages before production started sending the filmmakers into a quandary…”
Come on, Sony! Give the MCU some competition! At least the new Superman trailer looks pretty decent. Maybe DC is stepping up.
Marvel Miscellany
While Sony is seemingly in a rut, Disney’s MCU is prepping for an exciting 12 months.
In fact, the fun begins soon as Marvel’s What If…? season three debuts on Disney+…later tonight!
Remember that the show will follow last year’s release pattern of a new episode each day for the rest of 2024!
The only way this news could possibly be better is if I told you that there was an Echo season two coming in January.
Sadly, there’s not, but Marvel still has you covered. Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man debuts on January 29th.
Marvel also confirmed Black Panther 3’s existence, albeit backhandedly.
Speaking of confirmation, Ed Bernero has been chosen as the showrunner for Nova. I guess it’s definitely a TV show once and for all.
Even as I say that, I remember the continued confusion about Armor Wars, though. Is Armor Wars still even a thing?
Okay, that’s it for this week, but I’m sure you’ll be watching What If… So, here’s a list of this season’s episodes:
In one week, unwrap a new episode daily for 8 days straight #WhatIf S3 arrives December 22 on @DisneyPlus. pic.twitter.com/plzHL0bKFw
— Marvel Studios (@MarvelStudios) December 15, 2024
Happy holidays, my many loves! I hope you have the best vacations possible!
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