While Tom Holland keeps swinging higher than ever, Sony’s other Spider-Man plans are quietly sliding into the background. His latest outing as Peter Parker in “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” directed by “Wonder Man” filmmaker Destin Daniel Cretton, has become one of the biggest openings in box office history, pulling in $360 million domestically and $932 million worldwide in its first weekend, as per NBC News.
The film finds Holland’s Peter Parker navigating a world that no longer remembers who he is, while facing down some of his most iconic comic book villains.
A Different Story for Sony’s Other Marvel Movies
GettyThat success hasn’t carried over to Sony’s broader slate of Marvel spinoffs. The studio’s separate universe built around Spider-Man’s supporting characters, including “Madame Web,” “Morbius,” “Kraven the Hunter” and the “Venom” trilogy, has struggled to find the same audience.
While the Venom films performed well financially, the other entries were widely panned, with some ranking among the worst-reviewed superhero movies ever made.
Rothman Addresses the Franchise’s Future
Sony Pictures chairman Tom Rothman spoke with Variety following “Brand New Day’s” release and offered a blunt assessment of what went wrong.
He acknowledged that films like “Kraven the Hunter” and “Madame Web” didn’t land with audiences, though he wasn’t sure that reflected fairly on the movies themselves. Still, Rothman didn’t mince words about who ultimately decides a franchise’s fate. “The audience is the boss, and they didn’t respond,” he said.
Asked directly whether Sony has any new spinoff projects in the works, Rothman said there is currently nothing moving forward, adding that the studio never envisioned this corner of its output as a shared “Sony-Marvel Universe” to begin with.
GettyHis comments mark a notable shift from earlier this year, when he suggested Sony was exploring a reboot of its spinoff universe with an entirely new cast.
In February, he indicated the door was still open for these characters to return in some form. Now, with “Brand New Day” dominating conversations instead, that reboot talk has quietly faded, leaving Sony’s spinoff plans in limbo for the foreseeable future.
Tom Holland’s Spider-Man and Tom Hardy’s Venom Crossover Remains Uncertain
GettyThe update also puts a pause on years of speculation about a crossover between Holland’s Spider-Man and Tom Hardy’s Venom.
The characters have brushed against each other before, most notably in a mid-credits scene from “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” when Hardy’s Eddie Brock briefly landed in Holland’s universe before being pulled back into his own.
That tease followed an earlier mid-credits moment in “Venom: Let There Be Carnage,” where Brock watched a news report revealing Peter Parker’s secret identity.
Hardy has previously said he wished the crossover had happened, noting his own kids were hoping to see it too. For now, Rothman’s comments suggest that meeting is still a long way off, if it happens at all.
With “Brand New Day” proving Holland’s Spider-Man doesn’t need Sony’s other characters to succeed, the studio appears content to let its shared-universe ambitions sit on the shelf for now.
