Summary SCREENRANT VIDEO OF THE DAY SCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT Sony's Spider-Man spin-off universe has had a difficult run, with successive movies struggling to improve on their predecessor's box office. Beginning with Tom Hardy's Venom in 2018, Sony has posited that they don't need Spider-Man himself to make a daring cinematic universe featuring characters from the webslinger's expanded lore, even if Spider-Man supposedly does exist in Sony's universe off-screen.
Madame Web was Sony's most abysmal box office performance yet, earning a pitiful $43,817,106 in its domestic run. The international community didn't treat Madame Web much better, adding a mere $56,481,711 to the film's running total. On a production budget that could generously be estimated at 80 million dollars before advertising, it's safe to say that Madame Web was a massive misstep for Sony's universe, going down as the single lowest opening run in Spider-Man history.
Morbius ended its theater run with a mere $167,460,961 total, opening domestically to the sound of only $39,005,895. On an estimated budget in the neighborhood of 70 million dollars before advertising, Morbius likely struggled to break even, and ended up being the first major flop of Sony's Spider-Man universe.
The Venom sequel wasn't able to escape the shadow of its predecessor at the box office, but wasn't altogether a disappointment for Sony. The film ended its worldwide theatrical release with a worldwide haul of $506,863,592. With a budget of 110 million dollars, Venom: Let There Be Carnage was a satisfying, if not ideal, take for Sony. It seems as though the excitement for Carnage's first live-action movie appearance was enough to pique the interest of enough Spider-Man fans.
Venom was an unequivocal success for Sony, making $213,515,506 domestically and $642,569,645 worldwide on a budget hovering around 110 million dollars. Venom was even able to set some impressive records, being the seventh-highest opening for a Sony film ever and taking home the crown of the best Columbus Day box office take.