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After Morbius, Madame Web, and Kraven, Sony boss won't say if there'll be more Spider-Man spin-off movies

Sony Pictures chairman Tom Rothman addressed the failures of the studio's attempts to spin out new movie franchises based on Spider-Man villains

Image credit: Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios

News by Jules Chin Greene, Staff Writer

Published on Tue Aug 04 2026

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After Morbius, Madame Web, and Kraven, Sony boss won't say if there'll be more Spider-Man spin-off movies

Don't hold your breath for a potential Big Wheel or Hypno Hustler movie from Sony Pictures any time soon. Even though Spider-Man: Brand New Day has been a smash success at a busy summer box office, Sony Pictures isn't keen on developing films featuring Spider-Man characters just to have a Spidey-related movie in cinemas every year.

Speaking with Variety, Sony Pictures boss Tom Rothman addressed the critical and commercial pitfalls of films like Kraven the Hunter, Madame Web, and Morbius. Rothman said, "Ultimately, the audience wasn’t satisfied enough with them. Whether that’s a fair assessment of those movies, who knows. That’s howling into the wind. The audience is the boss, and they didn’t respond. It’s as simple as that."

So what about the future? Clearly, Spidey still has legs (sorry). Will Sony be capitalizing on that?

"Right now, we don’t know [if there are plans to keep developing Sony's universe of Marvel characters]," said Rothman. "We never looked at it as the 'Sony-Marvel Universe.' We looked at if there were worthwhile movies to make with other characters. At the moment, there are none in active development."

Call me deranged, but I think that Kraven and Morbius have enough heft as characters to sustain their own feature films. Sony just didn't make good movies for either character. And now I'm left with my Morbius: The Living Vampire omnibus in my office, ranting and raving about how there have been great Morbius stories told in comics - they just haven't been brought to the screen yet.

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Jules Chin Greene: Jules Chin Greene is a journalist and Jack Kirby enthusiast. He has written about comics, video games, movies, and television for sites such as Nerdist, AIPT, and Multiverse of Color.