Sony's decision to create a Spider-Man cinematic universe featuring a collection of villains has led to perplexing movie choices within the past decade despite a promising start with Venom. Recent Sony movie titles like Morbius Madame Web and Kraven the Hunter suffered immensely causing Sony to rethink film direction with new Spider-Man projects.
Sony Pictures CEO Tony Vinciquerra will be moving into a new company position in 2025 but has voiced some insight into why films may have not met expectations citing poor critic reviews to be largely to blame. In an interview given to the LA Times Vinciquerra claimed despite its low reception Kraven the Hunter was not that bad despite harsh critical scores.
Vinciquerra Defends Flops: Claims Kraven the Hunter 'Not a Bad Film' Despite Poor Critical Response
Tony Vinciquerra discussed that Kraven the Hunter became “probably the worst launch” of his Sony tenure but asserted that he personally thinks "the film is not a bad film”. Even with strong promotional efforts of star Aaron Taylor-Johnson and director JC Chandor and pleas to come see their film Kraven scored only 17% on Rotten Tomatoes. Audience responses gave a higher approval of 74% on Rotten Tomatoes but this failed to significantly improve box office revenue which was capped at a total 43 million dollars globally.
Madame Web's Performance Dissected As CEO Contradicts Claims Regarding Venom's Success and Critical Acclaim
Vinciquerra also made comments defending Madame Web saying that underperformed due to critics and the media despite having done “great on Netflix." The comments made by the CEO appeared inconsistent as he criticized the press about “destroying” movies like Madame Web while then stating “audiences loved Venom" and made it "a massive hit despite low critic scores . Low critical scores from film reviews and negative fan base responses created poor performance records across movie releases by the studio. His inconsistent perspective indicates low film reviews were not the key issues which created low box office revenues as proven by the film Venom with the same problems that found success.
Misinterpretation and Questionable Logic in Sony's Defense of Villain Universe Films
Blaming critics for failures from this cinematic universe does not logically fit given it began from the single success of Venom especially when other villain movies such as Morbius did not receive the same favorable outcome and also there is a huge fan dislike of movies such as Madame Web . The meme campaigns created by many internet users following films Morbius and Madame Web may have caused Sony to wrongly conclude audience interest where online users treat memes like ironic jokes . Sony had even gone as far as creating a re-release for Morbius following these false cues.
Kraven lacked online mockery for ironic meme reviews like that of Morbius and Madame Web leaving many with the view of simply disregarding the poorly executed movie. It's very concerning that the CEO of Sony considered Madame Web as good because the overall production along with storylines were poor quality.
Potential Disney Takeover or Improved Movie Productions Following Cinematic Universe Disappointments
With the "villain era" of Sony coming to an end for the time being there is now a question on whether things will improve and if Disney will potentially absorb what is left in order to revitalize the brand. Currently, fans are interested to see the new Spider-Man 4 title and the many Spiderverse movies that have already met success. Followers across platforms such as Twitter YouTube Bluesky and Instagram often publish detailed commentary that discuss future direction with these Sony owned titles that often spark online debates for movie direction among film enthusiasts.