Sony Pictures once tried to build a movie universe using characters from Spider-Man, but they did not include Spider-Man in these stories. The most notable film from this effort was Morbius. Many Marvel fans were not surprised when Morbius received strong criticism and did not perform well.
Director Ari Aster, who is known for films such as Midsommar and Hereditary, shared on the Mixed Signals podcast that Sony reached out to him years ago about directing Morbius, which starred Jared Leto. Aster did not share many details about the discussions with Sony. He simply confirmed he was approached but did not work on the project.
Even though Morbius included a character connected to Spider-Man and had well-known actors, it struggled to impress audiences and critics. This result contributed to Sony’s decision to end plans for a larger shared universe. There were early talks about connecting these films to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but this idea ended after Morbius was released.
Currently, Ari Aster is promoting his new film Eddington, which he called a “period piece.” The story is set during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown. So far, Eddington has received mixed reviews from critics, earning a 65% score on Rotten Tomatoes from 136 reviews. The movie features Joaquin Phoenix and (sigh) Pedro Pascal, who play rivals for the position of mayor. The cast also includes Emma Stone and Austin Butler. Eddington is now showing in theaters.
Sony had earlier achieved box office success with the Venom series starring Tom Hardy. However, the studio did not repeat this outcome with other spin-offs such as Morbius and Madame Web. Sony managed to bring well-known actors into these films, but did not gain an audience. Although Morbius received a historically low 15% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the film managed to earn $167 million worldwide from a $75 million budget. That moderate success came from its very controlled budget, but wasn’t enough to guarantee a sequel, thankfully.
Then Madame Web said “hold my beer.”
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Karina Smitt
I'm not as much of a "CoMiCs NeEd MoAr DiVeRsItY & iNcLuSiOn" advocate as my girlfriend often is, but we both love funny books, crispy bacon, straight bourbon and hip hop. Add yet, we never vote the same, so we cancel each other out... and that works perfectly in my book!
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