The past few days have seen some interesting Spider-Man developments, including the announcement of a new PS4-exclusive console game and some casting news for the forthcoming Spider-Man: Homecoming film.
Unlike most of his Marvel stablemates, Spidey has had mixed cinematic fortunes.
The Tobey Maguire films did pretty good at the box office, with the series’ final installment taking a worldwide box office total of $890,871,626 – making it the trilogy’s highest-grossing entry.
But despite initial plans for a fourth film, Sony decided to reboot the franchise and embarked on a development process which eventually gave birth to The Amazing Spider-Man in which Andrew Garfield took up the dual roles of Peter Parker / Spider-Man.
While that film was widely applauded, its 2014 sequel failed to win over both audiences and critics and Sony quickly shelved plans for any more Amazing Spider-Man films.
Instead of going solo as it had with the Maguire and Garfield films, the studio decided to team up with Disney-owned Marvel from which it had licensed the Spider-Man rights and re-introduced the character to audiences in this year’s Captain America: Civil War.
This version of the character, played by Tom Holland, is the one set to return to cinemas in 2017 alongside Marisa Tomei as Aunt May, Tony Revolori and Robert Downey Jr. who once again reprises his roles as Tony Stark / Iron Man.
And it’s now emerged that they’ll be joined by Beasts of No Nation actor Abraham Attah who appeared in the Netflix movie opposite Idris Elba.
With Spider-Man: Homecoming film being overseen by Marvel’s Kevin Feige, who has helmed Marvel’s rise as one of the most successful franchise studios in America, it’s expected the film will prove as hit with audiences as the studio’s Avengers saga has.
And, thankfully, Homecoming isn’t going to be another retelling of the now oh-so-familiar origins tale.
Meanwhile, at this year’s E3 convention, it was announced PS4 owners are soon set to get an exclusive new Spider-Man game to enjoy on their consoles.
The character has long been popular with games developers, first appearing on the Atari 2600 in 1982 and making multiple returns in each decade, including 2008’s Spider-Man: Web of Shadows, Lego’s massively popular games franchise, and even officially endorsed online slots.
And, despite his mixed cinema fortunes, Spidey is a widely licensed character that appears on a range of merchandise aimed at fans of all ages.
With merchandise sales so important to studios, and products selling best when enjoying the halo effect of a successful film, hopes will be riding high at both Sony and Marvel that Feige and team can meet the high expectations which will meet Homecoming’s cinema release.