Forbes warns Sony it can’t survive on Spider-Man alone
By Daniel Wood
Forbes warns Sony that it can’t survive on Spider-Man alone
The comic-book hero film industry has taken off into the stratosphere over recent years, and I like to think that it was ‘Spider-Man’ back in 2002 that kick-started the super-hero revolution. Now different studios are raking in millions off of the back of ‘he X-Men or The Avengers and Sony hope that Spider-Man can become their Marvel super-hero mega franchise.
They’re currently working towards the release of the second Amazing Spider-Man film and after that they have planned to expand their Spider-Man universe and franchise by being the first studio to make villain specific movies such as The Sinister Six movie, which is Whatever a Spider Can reported was currently in development and Venom which was recently officially announced.
However Forbes has recently released an article stating that Sony cannot expect Spider-Man to give them the same options as X-Men or The Avengers. The article goes on to compare Spider-Man to the other big comic-book franchises that Marvel has out there at the moment using it to explain why Sony can’t rely on Spider-Man.
"The sheer variety in terms of scope and genre is what makes the shared Marvel universe manageable in the long term. Those who prefer somewhat real-world geopolitical action will flock to Iron Man or Captain America while those who want fantasy adventure will prefer Thor or Guardians of the Galaxy. An expanded universe based around Peter Parker’s New York City is still (most likely) a bunch of Spider-Man movies."
Here, writer Scott Mendelsen is sharing the views of many who can’t quite see how a Sinister Six or Venom movie won’t just be another Spider-Man move, and to be perfectly honest I’m struggling to see it either. I mean spin-off villain movies do open up a new and previously unexplored point of view in the super-hero movie genre and they allow the possibility for some of Spider-Man’s allies to appear! But ultimately won’t all of them end up being about Spider-Man stopping the bad-guy in New York?
Don’t get me wrong I’d watch a Sinister Six movie, and I’d watch a Venom movie but then again I’d watch any movie based on the Marvel universe. The problem is that most people aren’t like me and wouldn’t! In fact there’s a chance that with a Spider-Man movie being released every year that fans, and half-fans could get overexposed to the webslinger and Sony’s golden goose spider will die away. A sentiment shared by Forbes
"A film slate built on the overexposure of Spider-Man will do little more than to to kill audience interest in the web-slinger while leaving the studio with that much less money and release date real estate to foster other would-be franchises for the future."
I fear that they may have a point.
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