Кадр з фільму «Мадам Павутина» / Sony
Sony Pictures CEO Tony Vinciquerra, in an interview with Los Angeles Times (via Variety), stated that “Madame Web” was a good movie, but it tanked at the box office because it got review-bombed by the media.
“Madame Web got bad numbers in theaters because the press just crucified it, even though it was actually not bad. For some reason, journalists decided they didn’t want us making ‘Madame Web’ or ‘Kraven the Hunter’ and just destroyed them,” says Vinciquerra. “It was the same with ‘Venom,’ but the audience loved it and made it a hit. They are not terrible movies.”
Remember, “Madame Web” even in its second weekend failed to reach the debut box office levels of “Morbius”, which once held the title of the Marvel superhero movie with the lowest box office. The movie’s rating on Rotten Tomatoes mirrors the audience’s mood — with 12% from critics and 57% from the audience. Collider, for example, in its review called the movie “exceptionally exhausting,” criticizing its “dull visual palette and simplistic dialogue,” while lead actress Dakota Johnson stated that she would likely avoid superhero movies in the future.
This year’s “Venom 3” did better, but still earned less at the box office than the previous two films in the trilogy, while “Kraven the Hunter” debuted with $11 million — worse than any of Sony’s films in the Spider-Man Universe. As Vinciquerra himself notes, it was “the worst launch” during his 8 years with the studio.
Thoughts of rethinking the franchise (and even canceling films with auxiliary characters in the Spider-Man universe) emerged in the studio precisely because of the “critics’ revulsion”:
“It’s a snake bite. If we release another movie, it’ll get destroyed, no matter how good or bad it is,” said Vinciquerra to LA Times.
Currently, Sony is working with Marvel on the fourth “Spider-Man” film, starring Tom Holland. However, there are rumors that not everything is going smoothly — the script is supposedly being reconsidered, which could affect the start date of filming and consequently lead to a delay in the release.