Kraven And Madame Web “Are Not Terrible Films” Says CEO OF Sony Pictures

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As a longtime moviegoer and critic who has seen more flops than blockbusters, I can’t help but feel a bit of sympathy for Tony Vinciquerra. The man is in charge of Sony Pictures, after all, and no one wants to see their baby (or, in this case, Spider-Man universe) struggle. But, as someone who has seen the critical drubbings that films like Morbius, Venom, Madame Web, and Kraven the Hunter have received, I can’t help but feel a bit frustrated by his dismissive attitude towards the reasons for their poor performance.

It appeared as if the underperformance of Kraven the Hunter might spell doom for Sony’s Spider-Man universe, devoid of Spider-Man himself. The debut of Madame Web kicked off the year with dismal earnings. Similarly, Venom: The Last Dance struggled to match the success of earlier Venom films. It seemed like a grim outlook for the franchise.

But the CEO of Sony Pictures, Tony Vinciquerra, begs to disagree.

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Vinciquerra said:

Vinciquerra: We’ve generally experienced exceptionally great outcomes. Regrettably, the film we unveiled over the weekend, titled “Kraven the Hunter,” seems to be our poorest launch so far…which remains perplexing, as I find nothing particularly wrong with the movie itself.

Speaking of Kraven the Hunter again, it’s worth noting that Sony released Madame Web earlier this year as well, but both failed to meet expectations in terms of performance.

Let’s discuss Madame Web briefly. The theater performance of Madame Web was less than expected due to harsh criticism from the media. However, it wasn’t a poorly made film; instead, it performed well on Netflix. For some unknown reason, the media seemed to disapprove of films like Kraven and Madame Web, and the critics were particularly hard on them. This also happened with Venom, but the audience adored Venom, which led to its massive success. These aren’t bad movies; they simply suffered from heavy criticism in the media for some reason.

Our Take On Vinciquerra’s Statements

In another words, it’s not surprising if Vinciquerra doesn’t express something like “Weren’t those films terrible, weren’t they?” A sports enthusiast would recognize the post-match interview where the team captain typically says, “Everyone gave their best today. Unfortunately, we didn’t get the results we wanted this time. This is a strong team, and we’ll perform better next time.

Instead of saying “they were just destroyed by the critics in the press, for some reason,” a more specific explanation could be used: “Critics heavily panned these films, but without a clear explanation from the studio head as to what specifically went wrong.” In my opinion, it would be beneficial for the studio head to offer more concrete insights into the issues that led to such negative reviews, rather than simply attributing them to vague reasons. Critics who wrote unfavorable reviews of Morbius, Venom, Madame Web, and Kraven the Hunter all provided specific reasons for their critiques; it’s not as if they merely scribbled “Bad!” without any further explanation.

It’s possible that the reason the Sony Spider-Man movies haven’t been well-received is due to the CEO of Sony Pictures having very low standards for what he considers an acceptable movie. If no one else has told him yet, I’ll be the one to say it: in my opinion, those films were not good.

Will Sony Keep Making Spider-Man Related Movies?

LAT: Do you think that the Spider-Man universe strategy needs to be rethought?

Perhaps we should consider a new approach since the previous attempt has already been undermined. Regardless of its quality or flaws, any subsequent effort might face destruction.

Instead of persistently criticizing Vinciquerra’s responses, he resigns on January 2nd, 2025, and Ravi Ahuja, the COO of Sony Pictures, will succeed him. Perhaps Ahuja will manage the quality control of Sony’s Spider-Man Universe in a more effective manner than his predecessor. Fingers crossed for improvement.

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2024-12-27 00:38