Sony Pictures CEO defends ‘Madame Web’, denies it’s a bad movie, shifts blame to reviewers for poor box office performance

Sony has had a tough year in 2024, especially when it comes to the performance of the movies “Madame Web” and “Kraven the Hunter.” The CEO of Sony Pictures, Tony Vinciquerra, believes that critics played a significant role in the disappointing box office results of these films.

Vinciquerra expressed his frustration in a recent interview with the “The Los Angeles Times,” pointing fingers at the media for the negative reception of the two superhero movies. According to him, the criticism affected the movies’ potential success at the box office.

Despite the challenges faced, Vinciquerra defended the quality of the films. He especially singled out “Kraven the Hunter,” starring Aaron Taylor Johnson, stating that it was not a bad movie. However, the film had the lowest opening numbers among all Sony Marvel movies, with a global box office revenue of $43 million, as reported by Box Office Mojo.

As for Madame Web, it earned just $43 million domestically and $100 million in the international box office, markedly less than the other Spider-Man adjacent franchise Morbius, which earned $167 million worldwide.

Vinciquerra placed the blame squarely on the press for panning both films.

“Madame Web underperformed in the theaters because the press just crucified it,” he said. “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.”

While pointing out that Tom Hardy’s latest entry Venom: The Last Dance also received lackluster reviews when it premiered in October, he continued, “They also did it with Venom, but the audience loved Venom and made Venom a massive hit. These are not terrible films. They were just destroyed by the critics in the press, for some reason.”

Considering the dismal success of Madame Web and Morbius, the Sony Pictures CEO warned that the company will have to reconsider whether they should continue creating franchises for characters in the Spider-Man universe.

“It’s snake-bitten,” he said of the Spider-Man universe. “If we put another one out, it’s going to get destroyed, no matter how good or bad it is.”

Fortunately for Marvel fans, this bad luck hasn’t touched Tom Holland‘s Spider-Man franchise: Sony is still moving forward with a fourth Spider-Man film, which is slated for a July 2026 release.