Bluntly, one franchise is on the way up, one isnt.
Looking at the numbers, you’ve got the option to see why.
By tens of millions of dollars, thatd make it the weakest performingSpider-Manmovie at the US box office.
And thats with the numbers for the four previous films not adjusted for inflation and rising ticket prices.
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In short,The Amazing Spider-Man 2is struggling just a little.
Not too much, but enough to cause questions to be asked.
That said, things arent quite that simple.
The newSpider-Manfilm has been hurt, for instance, by stronger than expected competition fromCaptain America 2.
However, caveats aside, there are truths in the hard numbers that Sony cant ignore.
Thats in spite of the reviews and reaction forThe Amazing Spider-Man 2being generally better than those forThe Amazing Spider-Man.
So whats going wrong?
Well, wed argue a few things.
Creatively, even accepting the bumpySpider-Man 3, the films were working.
It didnt handle that stage well.
The first teaser trailer forThe Amazing Spider-Maninfamously ended with a reflected look at Spider-Man in a window.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2certainly ups the ante, and wed argue is a notably better film.
But it too cant shake the feeling that its a sequel to an unnecessary reboot.
Thats been a little unfair on some real talent at work, we should note.
Yet it does feel like theyve got their hands tied a little around their back.
Even the post-credits stings feel business-tinged.
The big problem, though, is that Sony neededThe Amazing Spider-Man 2to be a springboard.
It needed it to be aSpider-Man 2, aDark Knight, anX-Men 2.
The kind of excellent sequel that invigorates a franchise, and leaves you salivating for the next instalment.
And the film doesnt really do that.
The fact that, in the US, the film has a CinemaScore of B+ is a further worry.
The CinemaScore is a gauge of what audiences thought of the film on the way out.
History shows that B+, while no disaster, is not good news.
It generally means that hopes of word of mouth bump are dampened.
B+, meanwhile, was the score given toBrick Mansions,Need For Speed,Draft DayandRoboCop.
Sony would want to be in the former pack.
But its Spider-Man film finds itself in the latter.
But there must be warning sirens in Sony HQ right now.
Its building a cinematic universe on foundations that are slowly subsiding.
Its all certainly salvageable, and a movie making north of $700m is no disaster.
But it is a disappointment, and Sonys strategy, going forward, might just need some fine-tuning…
