Spider-Man comes to Sony’s rescue to shake sequel fatigue

Sony Pictures chairman Tom Rothman downplays forecasts that the new Spider-Man movie will open with sales of $100mn or more this weekend. But it sure needs to.The Culver City, California-based unit of Sony Corp is in seventh place at the box office, a lowly spot the studio hasn’t occupied since 2000. And Spider-Man: Homecoming, Sony’s sixth film about the Marvel superhero, represents the company’s best chance to create a mega hit and lay the foundation for action films scheduled out to 2019.“It’s as important as any film they have released in the past 10 years,” said Jeff Bock, senior box office analyst at Exhibitor Relations Co. “It is the last major franchise they have.”After starting 2017 with a $1bn write-off and the departure of Michael Lynton, who led the Tokyo-based company’s US film, TV and music businesses, Sony’s entertainment unit needs to start making hit films again. Last year’s Ghostbusters revival failed and was followed by disappointments including the star-studded Passengers. Rothman, 62, came in more than two years ago after a hacking scandal toppled former studio chief Amy Pascal.Spider-Man: Homecoming marks a chance to get back in the right direction. The picture starring 21-year-old Tom Holland could debut with sales of $122mn in North America this weekend, analysts at BoxOfficePro.com said. Sony is offering a more conservative $80mn.The movie generated $15.4mn from its night of previews, according to the studio, shy of the $15.6mn Iron Man 3 registered, to be the sixth-biggest tally for Marvel from early Thursday showings. Sony shares slid 0.3% to close at ¥4,245 in Tokyo on Friday.Rothman, who came to Sony from 20th Century Fox, has reason to be cautious. Many studios’ well-known series have failed to meet expectations this year and US moviegoers are showing signs of fatigue with superhero sequels. While Spider-Man has been one of the most popular film characters from the comic book world, the most recent movies haven’t measured up.The first Spider-Man in 2002, starring Tobey Maguire and directed by Sam Raimi, was an unqualified hit, garnering upbeat reviews and global sales of $822mn on a production budget of $139mn, according to Box Office Mojo. By the last picture in 2014 - the second featuring Andrew Garfield - reviews had turned mixed, the budget had swelled past $265mn, according to the Hollywood Reporter, and ticket sales totalled $709mn.For this go-round, Sony turned to Walt Disney Co, recruiting the president of its successful Marvel division, Kevin Feige, as a producer. The company agreed to weave Spider-Man into a larger Marvel storyline featuring many superheroes, while Disney won rights to use the character in movies of its own. Disney retained merchandising rights and could benefit from toy sales linked to the movie.And costs have come down: The budget for the new film was $175mn, according to Sony.“It was very much run like a Marvel Studios production,” Feige told reporters in April.Success would put future Sony superhero films on firmer ground. These include a 2018 release based on the character “Venom,” featuring Tom Hardy, along with an animated Spider-Man. The studio also plans a feature with female leads based on Black Cat and Silver Sable. As part of the deal with Disney, Feige will produce a Spider-Man sequel due out in 2019. Pascal, a producer on Spider-Man: Homecoming, will be part of that effort, too.The new Spider-Man continues a story introduced in last year’s Disney movie Captain America: Civil War, which brought in $1.15bn in worldwide. It will extend through next year’s Infinity Wars and possibly another Avengers movie. Holland’s introduction “began a trajectory of excitement that started over a year ago,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior analyst at ComScore Inc.Homecoming finds Spider-Man’s alter-ego Peter Parker in high school in Queens, living with Aunt May, played by Marisa Tomei. Joined by Robert Downey Jr as billionaire Tony Stark/Iron Man, Spider-Man takes on the evil villain Vulture, played by Michael Keaton. Spider-Man: Homecoming generated 93% positive reviews, according to aggregator Rottentomatoes.com, the second best in the series.