The business was not going well for Sony Pictures in 2017 when Tony Vinciquerra became the conglomerate’s CEO. The company was still feeling the adverse aftereffects of the infamous 2014 cyberattack, carried out by a group of hackers called ‘Guardians of Peace,’ which exposed employees’ personal information and sensitive internal communications, damaging its reputation and resulting in substantial financial losses. His arrival proved fortuitous for Sony, as the production house made a successful comeback in 2017 with hits like Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. Since then, the company has produced two new Bad Boys movies, two new Ghostbusters films, and the Spider-Man trilogy (in collaboration with the MCU). Everything seemed to be going well for Vinciquerra until he and his team decided to develop the controversial Sony’s Spider-Man Universe (SSU).
Vinciquerra will step down from his role as Sony Pictures’ CEO on January 2. Replacing him will be the company’s current COO, Ravi Ahuja, whose succession was planned months ago. The outgoing CEO recently spoke with the Los Angeles Times about his tenure at Sony Pictures and discussed the SSU movies in detail.
Despite the harsh criticism of the latest SSU entries (including Madame Web and Kraven the Hunter) from both viewers and critics, Vinciquerra firmly believes that they were not bad movies. Instead, he blamed the press for butchering them.
“We’ve had mostly very, very good results,” Vinciquerra addressed the studio’s performance during his tenure. “Unfortunately, [Kraven the Hunter] that we launched last weekend, and my last film launch, is probably the worst launch we had in the 7 1/2 years so that didn’t work out very well, which I still don’t understand because the film is not a bad film.” He added that “we’ve been successful.”
He also defended Madame Web with all his heart. “Let’s just touch on Madame Web for a moment. Madame Web underperformed in the theatres because the press just crucified it. It was not a bad film, and it did great on Netflix. For some reason, the press decided that they didn’t want us making these films out of Kraven and Madame Web, and the critics just destroyed them”
Madame Web and Kraven the Hunter are not just the worst superhero movies of 2024; they are also among the worst-rated superhero projects of all time. These two disastrous films have caused substantial, almost irreparable damage to the SSU. Madame Web (which grossed over $100 million) ignited the fire that began to burn the SSU, while Kraven the Hunter (which has earned over $43 million so far) added more fuel to the already-smoldering SSU, sealing its coffin for good. These films have done so much harm that Sony can’t even consider making and releasing another movie based on a popular Spider-Man character, even if it turns out to be a good one—because it will likely bomb at the box office. Fans have lost all faith in the SSU.
It’s understandable why Vinciquerra is defending these films, but he must accept that they flopped because they were simply terrible movies. Critics and the press had nothing to do with their poor box office performance. In fact, they likely saved many people from wasting their hard-earned money on these pieces of garbage.
Sony will reportedly bury the SSU after Kraven the Hunter. Let’s hope that happens soon! Stay tuned for more updates.