Most of us have been there. The libations are flowing and we start coming up with crazy ideas. People smile, nod politely and try to change the subject. The next morning we try to remember what we said and feel foolish by what we recall. Hopefully we learn our lesson and never get that carried away again.
Sometimes people don’t learn. Sony is just such a case. Maybe it didn’t have the best luck, as Disney and Marvel were savvier about the characters chosen to star in films. Sony was left with…everything else. Still, bad decisions are bad decisions. After the relative success of the 2018 "Venom" film, Sony rolled out a list of characters they want to build their own comic universe on. "Venom" was entertaining and "Let There Be Carnage" had it’s moments, which you can see on YouTube and spare yourself from the whole movie. "Morbius" was a bomb at the box office and even earned a jab in Amazing Spider-Man #900. (Peter was returning library books and said "Vampires: Myth and Reality" had mixed reviews.) As we all know, Spider-Man can't appear in any Sony Marvel films, as the rights belong to Marvel and Disney. So these Spider-Man related movies wont have Spider-Man. Some of the characters would have potential as side characters but they are too thin to carry a full movie themselves.
Today I heard that Donald Glover has been cast as the Spider-Man villain, Hypno-Hustler. He and his gang perform at concerts and hypnotize the audience so that they can rob them. That's it. However, it did make me think of all of the other upcoming Sony Spidey movies.
Personally, I think that the film with the most potential is Kraven the Hunter, starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson. As the star of one of Spider-Man's darkest and most famous stories, fans would love to see an adaptation of "Kraven's Last Hunt." The film will be released October 6, 2023. It's still somewhat a mystery what Kravinoff will be doing in the film, but the Chameleon, Calypso and Foreigner are allegedly featured.
Madame Web is another Spider-Man supporting character that is getting her own film, starring Dakota Johnson. The movie will be released February 16, 2024. The original Madame Web was Cassandra Webb, an elderly psychic connected to a life support device. The second is Julia Carpenter, who is likely the character played by Johnson. I'm not sure how a Madame Web film would play out, as she has no enemies of her own.
Jackpot is a forgotten character that appeared about ten times between 2008 and 2010. It was hinted that she was Mary Jane, but she turned out to be Sara Ehret and a second Jackpot called Alana Jobson. Not much came from either character, in the long term. There was talk of a movie and then a TV series. Then, thankfully, there was silence.
El Muerto is another Sony film, planning to be released January 12, 2024. It stars a rapper that goes by the stage name of Bad Bunny. El Muerto appeared in two issues of Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man in 2006 and has not been seen again. He was offered up to a wrestling god for the right to retain the luchador mask of El Muerto and it's power.
The thing is, the casts are made of talented actors. (I actually know nothing about Bad Bunny, so I can't comment.) Then again, Tom Hardy and Woody Harrelson starred in "Let There Be Carnage" and they couldn't save it.
Go home, Sony. You're drunk.
***
Maybe Sony sobered up after all. It took a serious beating from the critical and financial failures of "Madam Web" and "Morbius." Jared Leto's movie made $167.5 million with a budget of $75 to $83 million. Sounds good to me but I'm not a Hollywood studio. "Madam Web" really took a hit with a budget of $100 million and earned $100.5 million.
Other Sony Spider-Man films have gone silent, including "Hypno-Hustler" and "El Muerto." Bad Bunny's publicist told Vanity Fair in September 2023 that the movie wasn't happening.
"Venom: The Last Dance" was released October 25, 2024.
"Kraven the Hunter" was released on December 13, 2024, after being pushed back by the studio several times.