In March, Sony unveiled an ambitious plan to create their cinematic movie universe around Spider-man. They revealed a plan that included multiple Spider-man sequels, a Venom movie and a movie starring the evil super-team, known as The Sinister Six. Earlier this year, The Amazing Spider-man 2 under-performed in the eyes of most critics and fans alike. Clearly the foundation in which they are building their universe on, is on shaky ground.
In anticipation of San Diego Comic Con, Sony has announced their revamped and less ambitious Spider-Man plans. They will now be releasing their adaptation of The Sinister Six on November, 11th 2016. The Amazing Spider-man 3 was previously declared to open on June, 10th 2016. This film will now move to an unannounced date in 2018, while Sony opted to put their adaptation of Naughty Dog’s Uncharted in the prime summer location.
Drew Goddard (Cabin in the Woods) must be developing something pretty special for The Sinister Six, to get the project pushed to the front of the line. Or maybe Sony is just impatiently eager to dip into the superhero teamup, or in this case super-villain teamup cash pool. It will be the next Spider-man film that we will see and Doug Belgrad, president of Sony Pictures had this to say about Goddard:
“With Sinister Six in the hands of writer-director Drew Goddard, we feel extremely confident placing the film on a prime date in 2016.”
It is important to note that after laying the groundwork for one of his “dream projects” in Marvel’s Daredevil, Goddard gave up much of his show-running responsibilities for the project to focus his attention on The Sinister Six. A lot is riding on the next Spidey film and Sony is fully aware of that fact. The Amazing Spider-man 2 was the lowest grossing Spider-man film of all-time, pulling in a little over $200 million at the box office. Comparatively, the original Spider-man grossed over $400 million way back in 2002. When you figure in inflation, the exorbitant production and marketing costs, as well as mediocre reviews of the actual film and you clearly have a sinking ship. If the next one or two Spider-man projects underperform, the studio is going to have to decide if the property is worth continuing to sink money into. If they choose to discontinue making the films (which would be a huge shock), the rights to the web-head will revert back to Marvel Studios and Disney.
It would makes sense if either Chris Cooper or Dane Dehaan return to take on the leadership role of the group, as the Green Goblin. As well, Jamie Foxx as Electro, Paul Giamatti as the Rhino, and perhaps even Rhys Ifans as the Lizard could all potentially return to the fray. This lineup is stocked with good actors and it would stand to reason that Foxx or perhaps Ifans could serve as redemptive characters, giving audiences someone to root for in a movie full of bad guys. It will be fascinating to see how the story is framed, what members fill out the six positions, and how involved Spider-man will actually be in the story. Telling an established superhero story based on the perspectives of villains will at the least, be a monumental cinematic moment or a potential disaster. We will be closely following the details of this project and more info should be flowing in shortly.
The Sinister Six will be in theaters November 11th, 2016.
Sources: The Hollywood Reporter, Comicbookmovie