Sony to Reboot Spider-Man Universe after Several Box Office Flops

Sony Pictures chairman and CEO Tom Rothman revealed that the studio is planning a “fresh reboot” to the Spider-Man extended universe after the franchise’s string of box office disappointments (aside from the trio of Venom films, which performed well).

On the latest episode of Matthew Belloni's The Town podcast, the journalist asked Rothman, “Where are we in the Spider-Man franchise? Not the animated Spider-Verse. Is the larger Spider-Verse dead?”

“No,” replied Rothman.

Belloni then asked, "Are you going to go back to those at some point?", to which Rothman responded, "Yes."

Belloni also asked if the new iteration of the universe would be a "fresh reboot" with "new people."

The executive added that “scarcity has value … you got to make the audience miss you.”

Rothman confirmed both ideas, confirming that the next wave of Sony-Marvel movies will feature fresh faces.

Later in the conversation, Rothman discussed the declining box office returns for superhero movies after Belloni asked about his thoughts on Disney's Marvel Cinematic Universe.

"To your question about Spider-Man: Scarcity has value," Rothman said. "You've got to make the audience miss you. It's the old thing. I always had trouble getting girls to go out with me twice, but until fortunately, my wife took pity on me, but absence makes the heart grow fonder."

Rothman also, for the first time, confirmed a 2021 report that "Spider-Man: No Way Home" was banned in China due to the film’s climax taking place at the Statue of Liberty.

He pointed out the film made $1.9 billion globally, which “pisses me off to have to say this.”

“You say, ‘$1.9 billion, what’s wrong with [saying] 2?’ Well, it didn’t get into China, but in my mind [the film’s box office is] over 2 [billion] because I know what we would have done in China.”

“[The China Film Administration] just said, ‘Small thing, no problem, just cut out the Statue of Liberty’ — which is where the climax is. That was their request.”

Needless to say, the executive did not change the film — which might have been impossible given the sheer amount of screen time that takes place at the iconic New York landmark.

“Also, I really didn’t look forward to sitting in front of Congress telling them why I cut the Statue of Liberty out at the request of the Chinese Communist Party,” he added.

Sony reportedly courted China heavily for "Spider-Man: No Way Home," even releasing a Chinese poster amid hopes it would be the first Marvel Phase 4 film to clear censorship approvals. The prior film, "Spider-Man: Far From Home," made $200 million in China.

The studio has held the rights to theatrical Spider-Man projects since 1999, and produced Sam Raimi's trilogy of hits starring Tobey Maguire as the central web-slinger in the 2000s. After a pair of somewhat disappointing reboot films starring Andrew Garfield in the early 2010s, the studio teamed up with Marvel Studios to bring Spider-Man into the Marvel Cinematic Universe with "Spider-Man: Homecoming" in 2017, featuring Tom Holland in the lead role. A year later, Sony launched its first Spider-Man spinoff movie, "Venom".

Since 2018, Sony has released six live-action Marvel movies based on secondary Spider-Man characters: "Venom," "Venom: Let There Be Carnage," "Morbius," "Madame Web," "Venom: The Last Dance," and "Kraven the Hunter."

None of these movies actually featured Spider-Man, and all of them received negative reviews from critics, without a single "fresh" Rotten Tomatoes score among them.

In direct contrast to Rothman's point about scarcity, Sony's last three Marvel movies all bowed in 2024, meaning the studio's comic book movie output outpaced both DC (which only released "Joker: Folie a Deux" that year) and Marvel Studios (which only released "Deadpool & Wolverine").

The studio's next theatrical Spider-Man project is the Destin Daniel Cretton-directed "Spider-Man: Brand New Day," which will see Holland's Peter Parker cross paths with Mark Ruffalo's Hulk and Jon Bernthal's Punisher. The film is set to release July 31.

Sony is also joining forces with Amazon MGM to put forth its first live-action Spider-Man TV series, "Spider-Noir".

The show will star Nicolas Cage as a gumshoe version of Spider-Man in an alternate 1930s New York City.

Cage previously played an iteration of the character in the 2018 animated hit "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse," though it remains to be seen whether or how Spider-Noir might connect to Sony's other Spidey projects.