‘Venom’ could have gone either way for Sony, but luckily for the studio, fans flocked to this movie, based on the Marvel Comics concept, helping it earn over $500,000 and squelching any possibility that Marvel Studios might acquire the ‘Spider-Man’ brand.
According to Exhibitor Relations’ senior box-office analyst Jeff Bock, in an article by Business Insider:
“If it had failed, there is a chance Sony would have definitely returned to the bargaining table with Disney. Now, that’s up in the air.”
“[Sony] took a calculated risk with ‘Venom,’ and it’s now going to be a series. It seems Disney needs Sony’s ‘Spider-Man’ more than Sony needs Disney … If they consistently make films audiences want to see, Disney will have to buy Sony to get ‘Spider-Man’ back.”
“This is just the beginning of Sony’s reemergence as a studio of box-office distinction. They’re not giving it up without a fight.”
Sony had originally planned ‘Venom’ along with other Spider-Man spin-offs a few years ago, while they were in the midst of their ‘Amazing Spider-Man’ series, but when ‘Amazing Spider-Man 2’ was poorly received, those plans were put on hold and Sony brokered a deal to introduce a new version of the wall-crawler set within the popular Marvel Cinematic Universe. It seems had ‘Venom’ not done well, Sony may have actually considered selling the rights to Spidey and all related characters to Marvel and Disney. Instead, it appears that Sony will retain these characters and will continue making movies with them.
The next film will be ‘Morbius’ directed by Daniel Espinosa and starring Jared Leto as the vampire-like creature. Spike Lee recently declared that he was no longer working on a movie about ‘Nightwatch’, but it’s possible that Sony will proceed with a different director. Plans for Silver Sable and Black Cat are in flux. They were planned to have solo movies, then to be co-headlining ‘Silver & Black’. But now comes word that they will once again get solo pictures. Also in the works is a movie starring ‘Kraven the Hunter’. Sony purports to have the rights to 900 different related Marvel characters.
However, according to former Sony story analyst and script reader, Ken Miyamoto:
“And I just don’t see it working with those characters. Nobody cares… If you push things too fast to try and emulate the MCU to create connected multi-franchises, you’re going to suffer the same fate you did before.”
Would you like to see more ‘Venom’ movies? What about other movies starring Spider-Man supporting characters?
