2021 Box Office Report Card: Sequels to ”Spider-Man,“ ”Venom“ and ”Ghostbusters“ made up nearly all of the studio’s $1.1 billion year
In August, Sony Pictures’ top execs pledged to theater owners at CinemaCon that it would not jump into the day-and-date streaming experimentation that other major studios had used throughout 2021.
“Debuting movies simultaneously in theaters and at home is devastating to our collective businesses. Our movies will be seen exclusive first in our movie theaters,”Josh Greenstein, President of Sony Motion Picture Group, said. “Movie theaters and the theatrical movie experience will triumph.”
Sony was victorious. Sony’s streak of success continued for the entire fourth quarter of this year, just five weeks after Greenstein made his promise. Start with “Venom: Let There Be Carnage”October is the best month for this. “Ghostbusters: Afterlife”November and the record-breaking month “Spider-Man: No Way Home”According to, December saw the studio finish just behind Disney at $1.1 billion in North American revenues. The Numbers.(This story will be updated when published with Comscore end-of the year data.
But while the last three months have been nothing short of spectacular for Sony, the recent victories hide some big questions about the studio’s long-term prospects outside of its web-slinging moneymaker; and Greenstein’s commitment to theatrical exclusivity doesn’t change the fact that the studio still had to pull what would have been some successful family films from its slate due to the pandemic.
Let’s focus on the good news first, starting with Sony’s smart move to push up the release date of “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” to October 1, a week ahead of the U.S. release of MGM’s 007 film “No Time to Die.”No major competition “Venom 2”The record-breaking $90 million opened and the company went on to make $212 million in North America. Its total North American revenue was nearly the same as the first. “Venom”2018
Then came “Ghostbusters: Afterlife,”A film that opened in mid-November with a modest $44 million but went on to gross $123 million. This was enough to place it in the Top 10 for 2021. It was, however, a success. “Spider-Man: No Way Home,”This blockbuster, which surpassed the Omicron surge and became only the third movie with a domestic opening over $250 million, was also the first film in the pandemic era that has grossed over $1 billion globally. It also managed to surpass other pre-COVID films like “Black Panther,” “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom”And “Frozen II.”)
But before those three hits came along in Q4, Sony didn’t have much of a presence at the box office. “Afterlife,” “Venom 2”And “No Way Home” combined for 86% of the studio’s 2021 total. In fourth on the studio’s annual chart is “Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway,”It earned just $40 million domestically over the summer. Meanwhile, the studio’s horror films from Screen Gems failed to reach either critical or commercial success: Sequels to “Escape Room,” “Don’t Breathe”And “Resident Evil”They failed to reach $35 million in domestic sales.
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“Peter Rabbit 2” (Sony Pictures)
And while Sony’s recent success with blockbusters has been a victory for theatrical exclusivity, the fact that the studio doesn’t have its own streaming service forced it to sell two big animated films to competitors. The critically acclaimed “The Greatest Movie Ever” was first. “The Mitchells vs. The Machines,”This film was originally planned to be released in fall 2020, but Netflix purchased it instead and it was released last April.
Then there’s “Hotel Transylvania: Transformania,”Sony originally planned to release the film in summer 2021 and then for a Halloween family film. Instead, the studio went bankrupt. “Transformania”Amazon Studios will launch it on January 14th.
Naturally, giving is important. “Venom 2” that pre-Halloween spot paid off, and Sony’s ability to bring millennial and Gen Z moviegoers to theaters in droves is a reason why top theater chains like AMC are still confident that 2022 will be a rebound year even as COVID drags on. It will take a while for Tom Holland and Tom Hardy to return to the roles of Peter Parker and Eddie Brock. “Ghostbusters” film hasn’t been greenlit. Sony must keep this momentum alive.
“Uncharted” (Sony)
2022 Forecast
Part of Sony’s answer to this question is…more Spider-Man. Or at least a Spidey portfolio that is well-diversified.
Work begins on a brand new series. “Spider-Man” films with Holland, Marvel’s other masked webslinger, Miles Morales, will return in “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse — Part One,”The sequel to Oscar-winning animated film “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.”The second part of “Across the Spider-Verse”Released in 2023
This year, it is due also “Morbius,”This is what I like “Venom” is part of Sony’s attempts to build franchises based on “Spider-Man”They have film rights to villains. Jared Leto’s Jared Leto vehicle was scheduled to be released in January. However, the Omicron surge has forced it to release on April 1.
Holland, who is not Peter Parker’s role, returns to Sony. “Uncharted,”Which is due February 18th. “Uncharted” is part of Sony’s attempt to build a new IP stable based on its most popular Playstation games, with an adaptation of the hit samurai open-world game “Ghost of Tsushima”You can also find it in the works.
There will be action films beyond the franchises, such as the David Leitch/Brad Pitt assassination film “Bullet Train,”The sci-fi thriller “65”Starring Adam Driver, directed by “A Quiet Place” co-writers Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, and the studio’s likely awards contender “I Wanna Dance With Somebody,”A biopic about Whitney Houston “Harriet” director Kasi Lemmons.
Aside from the pandemic year of 2020, Sony has topped $1 billion in domestic grosses every year since 2017 after a box office slump in 2015 and 2016 led the company’s motion picture division to report hundreds of millions in annual losses. The return of fan favorite films to “Spider-Man” helped the studio keep that streak alive, but now it’s up to the studio to prove it can keep it going without all that MCU magic.
’s 2021 Studio Box Office Report Cards
Monday: How Warner Bros.’ HBO Max Experiment Led to Mixed Box Office Results Tuesday:Universal Mined Sequels, Flexibility on Streaming and Survival at the 2021 Box Office Wednesday: Inside Paramount’s Quiet Place at the Box Office, Sidelined for a Brighter 2022 Thursday: Sony Struck Box Office Gold With Spider-Man in 2021 – But Not Much Else Friday: Disney
