Sony Pictures CEO blames critics for ‘Spider-Man’ failure

In an interview with Los Angeles Times Looking back at his seven years leading Sony Pictures, departing CEO Tony Vinciquerra spoke about the studio’s successes during his tenure, as well as the disappointments. This includes the final movie to be released while he’s still president: Kraven the Hunter.

the The occasional Spider-Man villain Starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson “It was probably the worst shoot we’ve done in the seven-and-a-half years (I was at Sony), so it didn’t work out very well, which I still don’t understand, because the movie said, ‘It’s not a bad movie.’”

In a follow-up question, Vinciquera was asked more about it Craven—Plus another infamous Spidey-adjacent release for 2024: Madame Web.

“Let’s just touch on Madame Web He said for a moment. “Madame Web It performed poorly in theaters because the press just crucified it. It wasn’t a bad movie, and it did great on Netflix.

He continued, tending to blame the press Madame Webfailure and others. “For some reason, the press decided they didn’t want us to make these films Craven and Madame Weband the critics just destroyed them. They did that too PoisonBut the audience loved it Poison And made Poison Huge hit. These are not terrible movies. They’ve been destroyed by critics in the press, for some reason.

(Morbiusreleased in 2022, is not mentioned.)

on rotten tomatoes, Kraven the Hunter It received a “Tomatometer” rating of 15% from critics; Movie fans gave it a 73% on the Popcornmeter. Madame Web‘s ratings are worse (11% of critics, 55% of fans); While the latest Poison film, Venom: The Last DanceIt received the greatest agreement between critics and audiences (41% vs. 81%).

However, just because fans who vote on Rotten Tomatoes may have positive feelings, that doesn’t necessarily translate into box office gold. Recently, Kraven the HunterAs Vinciquera himself admitted, Didn’t leave much mark At the box office.

The outgoing CEO may not have to worry about this for much longer, but he certainly realizes that it’s all about “Spider-Man The “decoupling” strategy that Sony initially embraced so enthusiastically will need to be reconsidered in the future. “I think we need to rethink it, just because it’s a snake bite,” he told the Los Angeles Times. “If we kill another one, they will be destroyed, no matter how good or evil they are.”

Spider-Man 4At least, it’s on the horizon: Tom Holland returns as the web-slinger in the Dustin Daniel Cretton-directed film arriving July 24, 2026.

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