Can you have a successful Spider-Man movie franchise without Spider-Man? For a brief moment, it actually seemed possible. Sony’s first Venom film made more than $850 million at the worldwide box office. Its two sequels also did well. The problem was that the franchise’s other Spidey-free films…uh….not so much! Morbius, Madame Web, and Kraven the Hunter were not exactly hits. They weren’t tough at-bats. Reviews were just as bad as tickets sales. But while Sony’s live-action Spider-Man franchise ultimately failed, the studio is not giving up on it just yet. It has plans to eventually reboot it with all new people.
During a guest appearance on The Town podcast with host Matt Belloni, Tom Rothman, Sony Pictures chairman and CEO, offered an update on the future of Sony’s live-action Spider-Man films. Rothman said the (human) Spider-Verse is not dead. He also said an unambiguous “yes” twice when Belloni asked if the studio will go back to those movies and if the next films will be a fresh reboot. Rothman said “yes” again when also directly asked if that reboot will mean “new people.”
Tough podcast for Jared Leto. We’re pretty sure it was a total relief to Dakota Johnson, though.
As for the future of a live-action Spider-Verse, this seems like confirmation for something that felt like a guarantee already. This is way too popular of an IP for Sony to give up on it entirely. But the most obvious issue with the first version can’t be ignored if the studio hopes for the rebooted version to work.
Venom was famous and beloved enough on his own to carry an entire more (or three). Morbius, Madame Web, and Kraven the Hunter are not. They needed a Spider-Man. It didn’t/doesn’t have to be Peter Parker, either. A live-action Miles Morales or Gwen Stacy would could also be the webbed-glue that holds a live-action Spider-Verse together.