【Title/标题】
As ‘Kraven’ Hunts for Audience, Sony’s Marvel Universe Takes Final Bow for Now | Analysis
【Source/来源】
Media Outlet/媒体：The Wrap
Written by/作者：Umberto Gonzalez
【Transcript/文稿】
The lights were on, but nobody came. At Brazil’s prestigious Comic Con Experience (CCXP) on Sunday, Sony Pictures’ surprise panel for “Kraven the Hunter” — the studio’s latest non-Spider-Man Marvel movie — played to rows of empty seats, according to an individual in attendance. There were no stars, and not that many fans. Just silence where superhero hype should have been.
The half-empty panel presentation of a $110 million budgeted antihero movie at one of the world’s largest pop culture events reflected the Sony Marvel franchise’s diminishing profile outside the mainline “Spider-Man” movies starring Tom Holland. While “Venom: The Last Dance” launched on more than 4,000 movie screens in October, “Kraven the Hunter” will debut this Friday in just 3,000 — a stark 25% reduction that signals waning confidence in Sony’s failed Marvel experiment.
The latest setback follows a string of disappointments for Sony as it has sought to exploit its rights hold on most of the characters in Marvel’s “Spider-Man” comics, from the historic second-week collapse of “Morbius” in 2022 to the disastrous $52 million worldwide opening of “Madame Web” earlier this year.
The studio’s desire to capitalize on the superhero boom led to a series of tonal mismatches that left audiences confused rather than intrigued. “Venom” succeeded largely on Tom Hardy’s chaotic charm, but attempts to replicate that formula with “Morbius” and “Madame Web” resulted in films that seemed uncertain whether they were horror, action or comedy.
The identity crisis extended beyond individual films to the universe as a whole, which never established a consistent style or vision in the way Marvel Studios had with the MCU.
“Anytime you try to spin off a character, you’re hoping to grab some of that magic created by the halo effect that the branding of ‘Spider-Man’ can bring to the table, but it’s not always a slam dunk,” Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore told the Wrap. “It’s easier said than done.” Although Dergarabedian noted that “Kraven” could find a place in the December marketplace as R-rated counterprogramming to family friendly are.
Sony declined to comment for this story.
The apparent end of Sony’s Marvel spinoff franchise represents one of Hollywood’s most ambitious – and costly – attempts to build a shared cinematic universe without its central character. While Spider-Man himself swings successfully through Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe thanks to a landmark shared deal struck in 2015 with Marvel Studios, Sony’s solo efforts to mine Spidey’s rogues gallery have proved to be a costly catastrophe: The studio has burned through more than $465 million in production costs while audience interest plummeted with each release.
“The biggest issue with the Sony Spider-Man spinoffs seems to be the lack of quality control. The movies just aren’t good,” a Sony insider told The Wrap. “Sometimes that lack of quality meets a movie no one asked for, which was the case with ‘Madame Web,’ and that is a no-win scenario. It may be time for Sony to start cultivating different IP to launch new franchises.”
The financial trajectory of Sony’s Marvel universe tells its own stark story. While 2018’s “Venom” grossed $856 million worldwide and its sequel managed to cross $500 million despite pandemic constraints, each subsequent release showed diminishing returns.
The Jared Leto-fronted “Morbius” limped to $167 million globally, with a historic 74% second-weekend box office drop that became a social media punchline. While “Venom: The Last Dance” — the third and likely final film in the “Venom” franchise — demonstrated the enduring appeal of Hardy’s portrayal with a $472 million worldwide gross as of Monday, the Dakota Johnson-led “Madame Web” marked a new low for the franchise. Its $52 million worldwide opening earlier this year represented one of the weakest debuts for a major superhero film in recent memory, compounded by a wave of memes poking fun at the female-centric film’s quality.
