2024 has been a pretty crazy year for cinema. If you’re Disney, things have been going pretty well, with three of the four biggest blockbusters globally coming from the studio. However, if you’re Sony, things haven’t gone so well. Venom: The Last Dance was a smash hit, but this year there were two other films in the studio’s Spider-Verse without Spider-Man, Madame Web and Kraven the Hunter, and they were two of the biggest flops of the year.
This will be a rather ignominious farewell for the outgoing CEO of Sony Pictures, Tony Vinciquerra. He is scheduled to resign at the end of the year, but when he left he spoke to L. A. Times on his mandate. Overall, he is pleased with his seven-and-a-half years at the helm of the studio, although he admits there have been missteps. Although he supposedly denies that Kraven the Hunter is one of them, saying. . .
Most of us got very, very smart results. Unfortunately, [‘Kraven the Hunter’] that we featured last weekend, and my last movie release, is probably the worst release we’ve had in 7 and a half years, so it didn’t do very well for Array, as It suits me. I don’t understand it, because the movie is not bad.
Surely many would not agree with this statement. Kraven the Hunter has a 15% score on Rotten Tomatoes and has yet to surpass $50 million at the international box office despite being in theaters for more than two weekends. That puts her in an elegance only slightly more among critics than Madame Web. Kraven will have to work hard to achieve even the $100 million that Web won.
And of course, Vinciquerra believes that Madame Web also qualifies as “not great” according to the box and reviews. The soon-to-be former CEO accuses critics of destroying the films, for reasons he doesn’t understand. Continued. . .
Let’s talk about Madame Web for a moment. Madame Web underperformed in the movies because the press simply crucified her. It wasn’t a bad movie and it did very well on Netflix. For some explanation of why the press didn’t need us to make those “Kraven” and Madame Web movies, and the critics just destroyed them. They also did it with Venom, but the public enjoyed Venom and it made Venom a huge success. They are not horrible films. They were destroyed by press criticism, whatever the explanation.
As one of the horrible critics of those movies, I have to challenge that idea. I wrote the Madam Web review through CinemaBlend, and I was probably nicer than some, but in my opinion the movie was just bad. The critics had no explanation as to why. Criticizing films unfairly. They were just bad. Arguably, the reason Madame Web was successful on Netflix is that other people wanted to see how bad the movie was without buying a ticket.
The idea that the film outperformed its critics and only failed because of critics is nonsense. As proof, you don’t need to look at anything other than Tony Vinciquerra’s own reference to the successful Spider-Verse films, the Venom films.
Yes, critics widely disliked the Venom movies too (though not to the extent of either Madame Web or Kraven) but audiences didn’t let that stand in their way of making the entire trilogy hits at the box office. The list of movies that critics hate and audiences still spend hundreds of millions of dollars to see is extensive. Reviews didn’t make these movies bomb.
The word is that Kraven the Hunter will be the last of the Spider-Man adjacent Spider-Verse movies to be produced. Sony’s outgoing CEO agrees that’s for the best, though in his case that’s only because he believes that no movie in the current franchise could possibly be successful, regardless of quality. He said…
I think we want to reconsider, just because it’s a snake bite. If we publish one, it will be destroyed, no matter how clever or bad it is.
The idea that the franchise needs to be rethought is one most would likely agree with, even if not everybody would agree with the reasons.
CinemaBlend’s resident theme park junkie and amateur Disney historian, Dirk began writing for CinemaBlend as a freelancer in 2015 before joining the site full-time in 2018. He has previously held positions as a Staff Writer and Games Editor, but has more recently transformed his true passion into his job as the head of the site’s Theme Park section. He has previously done freelance work for various gaming and technology sites. Prior to starting his second career as a writer he worked for 12 years in sales for various companies within the consumer electronics industry. He has a degree in political science from the University of California, Davis. Is an armchair Imagineer, Epcot Stan, Future Club 33 Member.
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