Sony’s Shrinking Spider-Man Spinoff Universe

The Dakota Johnson-starring box office flop Madame Web wipes out an entire plan for a new movie series and marks the studio’s second live-action Marvel disappointment after Morbius

The trailer buzz was worrisome, advance ticket sales anemic. Then, on Feb. 13, the reviews for Madame Web arrived, and they stung deepest of all. Sony’s SpiderMan spinoff received the lowest average Rotten Tomatoes score (13 percent) of any major superhero film in nearly a decade, since 20th Century Fox’s Fantastic Four scored a dismal 9 percent in 2015. “You could actually watch advance purchase sales declining in real time as buyers were refunding their tickets,” marvels a major theater chain executive. “It really says something when you’d rather have Shazam! 2 numbers,” they add, referring to the DC sequel that grossed only $134 million globally.

Web marked one of the lowest starts in Hollywood history for a film based on a Marvel character. Domestic box office for the first six days in North America was just $26.2 million after opening midweek on Valentine’s Day. International tallied $25.7 million from 61 markets.

Even the fan-friendly CinemaScore grade was poor, a C+.

Like DC and the once-unstoppable

Marvel, Sony is now finding itself under the gun to reevaluate how it makes comic book movies, even as it barrels toward release dates for the Aaron Taylor-Johnson starrer Kraven the Hunter (Aug. 13) and the Tom Hardy-led Venom 3 (Nov. 8).

Sony’s previous Spider-Man universe movie — 2022’s Jared Leto-starring Morbius — was a critical bust and much maligned by fanboys online, but at least it managed to earn $170 million worldwide. There’s no such hope for Madame Web. The S.J. Clarkson-directed feature’s collapse impacts not only this film, but also a potential franchise led by star Dakota Johnson that Sony had hoped to spin out (spoiler alert: her character is connected to

Peter Parker, whose birth is seen in the movie). The film introduced a trio of supporting characters (played by

Isabela Merced, Celeste O’Connor and

Sydney Sweeney — now one of the top stars her age). It set up a future in which the three could have become a team of Spider-Women under the guiding eye of Johnson’s Cassie Webb. “We’re not going to see another Madame Web movie for another decade-plus,” quipped one industry veteran. “It failed. Sony tried to make a movie that was a different type of superhero movie.”

Madame Web is part of a troubling trend for the superhero genre. Every live-action comic book movie last year underperformed (aside from Marvel Studios’ Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, which claimed $845 million), regardless of studio. “Superhero fatigue” has evolved from a term used by some corners of the fandom to a reluctantly accepted industry fact as Marvel, DC and Sony all attempt the difficult work of birthing new franchises.

The mood on the Sony lot is gloomy, an insider says.

The studio has had notable wins under movie chief

Tom Rothman’s tenure, including the Oscar-nominated animated Spider-Verse series and the live-action Venom. Rothman is known for keeping a close watch over budgets, and it has been widely reported that Madame Web cost $80 million, but the actual number is in the low $100 million range, according to several sources. Still, that’s far less than the $200 million to $300 million routinely spent by Marvel or DC. “We are in transition when it comes to superhero movies,” notes the insider. “Sony is willing to take some risk but also wants home runs — that’s good. And if

Kraven is a gigantic hit, the narrative could be completely different. So it’s too early to know the outcome.”