More than twenty years that the spider-man weaves his web in the cinema, and this one resists the test of time. With the release on Wednesday of “Spider-Man: Across the Spider Verse”, produced by Sony, the hero from the “Marvel Comics” universe goes back to the ault of the rooms. And he seems well on his way to experiencing a new success.
With approximately 115,000 admissions in France for its first day of operation, the seventh best start of the year according to “Box Office Pro”, this critically acclaimed animated film starts better than the first opus released in 2018, ” Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse”.
Oscar of the best animated film in 2019, the first episode had rather been a commercial success, with 384 million dollars collected at the box office, for a budget of 90 million dollars. A third part of the adventures of Miles Morales, who dons the costume of Spiderman instead of Peter Parker, will follow in 2024, “Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider Verse”.
The art of renewal
In addition to these three animated films, there are eight feature films released since 2002. Produced by Sony, the first trilogy directed by Sam Raimi, between 2002 and 2007, launched the franchise and collected overall receipts of between 790 and 900 million dollars per episode. “The first Spider-Man kicked off this pretty awesome franchise cycle. Their attractiveness does not seem to fade,” says Julien Jourdan, professor at HEC and specialist in cinema economics.
The two episodes that followed, directed by Marc Webb, “The Amazing Spider-Man” (2012) and its sequel “The Amazing Spider-Man: Fate of a Hero” (2014), did a little less well, each grossing over $700 million at the box office. After an agreement signed with Sony Pictures in 2015, Disney subsidiary Marvel Studios took over. Their ociation took Spider-Man to a new level.
The three episodes co-produced by Marvel Studios and Sony, “Spiderman: Homecoming” in 2017, “Spiderman: Far from Home” in 2019 then “Spiderman: No Way Home” in 2021, are all planetary hits, with respectively 880 million, 1.13 billion and 1.9 billion dollars in revenue, according to the specialized site Box-Office Mojo. Released in the midst of a health crisis, “Spiderman: No Way Home” achieves the feat of ranking 7the all-time global box office spot.
What are the secrets of this franchise’s longevity? Close to his core target by his age, the character of Spiderman is first and foremost one of the most popular in the Marvel universe. He also knew how to renew himself, being interpreted by three different actors. In his animated version, the new character of Miles Morales, half-Latino, half-African American, also breathed new life into the superhero.
The concept of parallel universe, or “multiverse”, exploited by the screenwriters in the last four “Spider-Man”, also made it possible to diversify the intrigues. Finally, the know-how of Sony and Marvel Studios, with major marketing campaigns and special effects galore, themselves enabled by colossal production budgets – up to 200 million dollars for “Spiderman: No Way Home -, did the rest. Almost flawless so far.