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Sony's boss thinks The Odyssey helped Spider-Man: Brand New Day become a bigger hit
Having their three biggest stars out promoting another movie might have hurt Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Instead, Tom Rothman thinks it helped.
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The past two months have been very big for Tom Holland, Zendaya, and Jon Bernthal. After starring in Christopher Nolan’s epic The Odyssey, all three then delivered Marvel its biggest hit in years in Spider-Man: Brand New Day just a few weeks later. That meant promoting and supporting both films – which are produced by different studios – simultaneously, something that would normally be a no-no. However, one Sony executive thinks the success of The Odyssey actually helped, not hindered, Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
Sony, which owns the rights to Spider-Man on film and TV and has plenty to lose from the film’s star being effectively double-booked, didn’t stop Tom Holland from taking a major role in Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey. In fact, they pushed back the release date for Spider-Man: Brand New Day to accommodate this change in his schedule, something Holland believes made the latest Marvel movie better.
Tom Rothman, Chairman of Sony Pictures Motion Pictures, said in a recent interview that he didn’t have a problem with their three stars also promoting another major movie at the same time. Tom Holland told him of the potential clash last year, but Rothman adapted his plans accordingly. “We had to adjust our timing and our plan,” Rothman explained. “Tom Holland, Zendaya, and Jon Bernthal fully supported both films and both films benefited. This reminds me of what the late great distribution exec Tom Sherak said, ‘A rising tide lifts all boats.’ When people go to the movies, they value experience and that’s what we’ve been needing to do in our business.”
It is hard to imagine The Odyssey hurting Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which broke the $1 billion box office mark less than a week after it opened. Clearly having Tom Holland’s face plastered across marketing even longer helped remind everyone that he had at least one more outing as Spider-Man coming up.
Both The Odyssey and Spider-Man: Brand New Day are in theaters now.
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