Tony Vinciquerra could solely have a couple of days left as chairman and CEO of Sony Photos, however he isn’t going quietly. In stepping down from his function, efficient January 2, 2025, the manager is vocalizing among the points he’s needed to face since taking the workplace in 2017 and notably in the previous few years with the COVID-19 pandemic and the WGA/SAG-AFTRA strikes. Nonetheless, talking in a latest interview with the Los Angeles Occasions, Vinciquerra laid explicit blame on the media for conserving individuals out of theaters.
“‘Madame Net‘ underperformed within the theaters as a result of the press simply crucified it,” he mentioned. “It was not a nasty movie, and it did nice on Netflix. For some cause, the press determined that they didn’t need us making these movies out of ‘Kraven’ and ‘Madame Net,’ and the critics simply destroyed them. Additionally they did it with ‘Venom,’ however the viewers liked ‘Venom’ and made ‘Venom’ an enormous hit. These usually are not horrible movies. They have been simply destroyed by the critics within the press, for some cause.”
Vinciquerra famous earlier within the interview that the failure of “Kraven the Hunter,” directed by J.C. Chandor and starring Aaron Taylor Johnson, was notably stinging contemplating it could be the final movie to debut below his chairmanship.
“Sadly, [‘Kraven the Hunter’] that we launched final weekend, and my final movie launch, might be the worst launch we had within the 7 1/2 years in order that didn’t work out very properly, which I nonetheless don’t perceive, as a result of the movie will not be a nasty movie,” mentioned Vinciquerra.
Fortunately for Sony, “Madame Net” and “Kraven” weren’t the one movies conserving the studio afloat this yr. “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” was a reasonable success, making again double its price range, whereas “Dangerous Boys: Trip or Die,” made for across the identical quantity, managed to gross over 4 occasions its prices. Regardless of swirling destructive rumors which have now became a full-blown authorized battle, Sony’s adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s “It Ends with Us” was an sudden hit, grossing over $350 million and made for 1 / 4 of what it took to supply both “Ghostbusters” or “Dangerous Boys” sequel.
“We’ve been very profitable,” Vinciquerra mentioned to the LA Occasions, celebrating the wins he skilled in his final yr main the corporate, in addition to his time as an entire. “We’ve beat our budgets yearly I’ve been right here, even by means of strikes and COVID, and max bonuses a number of of the years for all the workers. It was a very good run, and the movie studio was an enormous a part of it.”
Providing some parting knowledge to his alternative, Ravi Ahuja, the present Chairman of International Tv Studios and President and COO for SPE, Vinciquerra steered it could be time to vary technique in relation to its management of “Spider-Man” IP, because the studio’s observe report could also be tainted past restoration.
“I do assume we have to rethink it, simply because it’s snake-bitten,” mentioned Vinciquerra. “If we put one other one out, it’s going to get destroyed, irrespective of how good or dangerous it’s.”