Where is the Spider Man franchise heading?
The Spider-Man franchise has gone a long way from its
successful debut in 2002 with actors Tobey
Macquire and Kristen Dunst. It scored some
of the biggest records at the time of its release, notably the first film to
gross more than $100 million on its opening weekend. It garnered a similar
success with its sequel, but things started to fall apart and
Spider Man 3
wasn’t that lucky. Following some complications in pre-production and
“conflicting schedules,” the Sam Raimi franchise lost its steam and was finally
shelved.
In 2012, 5 years after Spider Man 3’s underwhelming release,
Sony rebooted the franchise with The
Amazing Spider Man (TASM) with director Marc Webb. Audience response was
mostly unpleasant, with remarks along the lines of “been there, done that.”
Despite Sony attempts to distinguish it from the initial franchise, comparisons
to the original franchise and disdain towards an early reboot continued. And,
most people overlooked the major reason Sony had to reboot the franchise so
quickly. To answer that question a bit of background knowledge of Marvels’
history is needed.
Surprisingly before the successes of the X-Men and Spider
Man, the company had financial difficulties and surely not enough money to
produce a superhero film. So, the company sold different properties to various
film studios. The agreement had certain provisos, one of which puts an expiry
date on the film license that is contingent on the theatrical usage of the
character. If Sony didn’t claim its
rights, by not releasing a Spider Man film, the character film rights would
have reverted back to Marvel Studios which is currently part of the Disney conglomerate.
Several properties have reverted/sold back to Marvel, notably Iron Man and
Electra and recently Dare Devil. As such, Disney’s legal force has put many
time constraints on studio schedules.
While North American audience members were less receptive to
The Amazing Spider Man, international
markets were more forgiving, invoking more than $495 million. This translated
to a solid $757.9 million global gross, but it marked the lowest grossing
Spider-Man entry in the franchise. The Amazing Spider Man 2 also lowered the
margin with $708.3 million, partly due to a cannibalizing schedule in its North
American market. Spider-Man was once the superior of comic book heroes, but now
with a high influx of CB movies, it has become like the others, just another
character in the group.
At this stage, Sony decided to work on a Spider-Man centered
universe—in the hopes of replicating the astounding success of the
Marvel/Disney universe. And, it’s no surprise. Columbia Pictures/Sony aren’t the
only distributors who are fighting for the piece of pie in this business.
Within 3 years, more than 18 comic book based movies are scheduled to be
released from both Marvel and DC comics. As of now, it is unclear if they are
only placeholders for other movies or if they are the real deal. Sony only
claims 3 of these huge line up of movies—a far-cry compared to that of Disney’s
and DC’s universe. In all fairness, though, Sony doesn’t have much to go on in
order to create a sustainable universe. This is among one of the few reasons
Sony will have a very hard time reproducing Disney’s success.
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Peter and Gwen's relationship was the highlight of the first two films |
Sony’s upcoming films may show off the idea of a connected
franchise, but what makes a solid franchise is its base, i.e.
The Amazing
Spider Man 1 and
2. One of the main differences between the
Amazing Spider Man
and the original Spider Man franchise is the darker tone (A direct result of
Nolan’s Batman trilogy). While I consider the darker tone far more interesting,
it does have its drawbacks especially in the type of crowd it attracts. Spider
Man’s core demographic is children, but the movie’s atmosphere is more apropos
for adults. This struggle takes a huge toll on the audience’s interest from
both young and adult demographics. The sequel reduces the dark tonality of the
film, but replaces it with a cockier Spider Man that makes children laugh but
not adults. Once again, this imbalance continued the loss of interest and decreased numbers.
It has become a standard that a franchise is considered
successful if a sequel can maintain or out gross its predecessors gross. At
this point, the Spider Man franchise is still considered “successful” but its
prospects aren’t auspicious. At face value, Sony’s effort at expanding the
Spider Man franchise seems clever: by diversifying your characters, you have a
better chance of attracting different audience members and making more money.
But, it’s easier said than done.
Sinister Six marks
the first film in Sony’s expanded franchise. It is set to be released on November
11, 2016. Considering it as a sequel to TASM2 would be a huge inaccuracy since
the ending of TASM2 isn’t in a place that would encourage viewers to watch a
Sinister Six movie. Instead it should serve as a buildup to TASM3. Without the
image of Spider Man, the film will have a hard time advertising its worthiness,
especially to younger audiences who are the main drive in this franchise. So,
expectations for Columbia Pictures shouldn’t aspire high. They will need a very
strong marketing campaign, which targets the correct demographic unlike TASM2
which suffered from ineffective market segmentation, especially for female
audiences. With more complex and new characters, Sinister Six is supposed to
change public perception and if possible attract a larger audience. However,
previous evidence (eg. Catwoman) doesn’t accurately show how villain-centered
movies perform at the box office. It remains unknown if villains can become a
consumer attraction? With superhero fatigue on the rise, Sinister Six might
just be the film that audiences are waiting to watch—just like Guardians of the Galaxy.
At this point, it’s very clear that all the weight is
falling on the Sinister Six. If it succeeds, then it’s a blinkering green light
for the TASM3. Evidence for Sony’s failing franchise has become quite
conspicuous. Sony rescheduling plans were done in an impromptu manner. TASM2’s
Blu-ray Release contains outdated bonus features in which Marc Webb incorrectly
refers to the “next sequel” as TASM3 when in fact the new plans have Sinister
Six as the next film. This type of sudden and unpremeditated changes are very
concerning and they place a big question mark on the future of this rebooted
franchise. It also is unsurprising that there is a 2 year time gap between the
Sinister Six and TASM3. It offers the production company an excuse to back out
of TASM3 before investing substantial amounts of money into it.
How they connect all the movies together in the franchise
will play a critical role in determining how successful
TASM3 would be. The
four year difference between
TASM2 and
TASM3 is in itself a very problematic
situation for the character. In fact, it is only a year short of how long it
took Sony to reboot the franchise. From an investment point of view, it offers
a lower financial risk but it also has negative consequences for the prospects
of the franchise. Large gaps between movies, especially the way
TASM2 ended,
disintegrate audience interest. The fact
that the superhero market is also expanding is another warning for the company
because it will have a hard time establishing its footing in the increasingly
competitive market. If
Sinister Six could keep the image of Spider Man alive
and build tension to a growing battle in
TASM3, then it might very well save
the franchise and perhaps allow Spider Man to re-attain its place as the
crowned king of superhero films.
Extra Note: Another option for Sony is making a Marvel reunion; it
would most definitely insure a huge revenue for the film but the company’s
profit is unlikely to be huge. If they can strike a good deal with Disney, then
it would help the image of Spider Man and Sony significantly.