As the arms race between Time Warner’s attempts to bring the DC universe to the big screen and Disney’s Marvel films begins to heat up Sony’s  Spider-Man series seems to have bowed out of the battle early.  After a disappointing box office performance for Amazing Spider-Man 2 and a string of high profile exits from the next project, Sony decided to make a serious change to their strategy that still casts some doubtful light on the series’ future.

Amazing Spider-Man 2 only managed to $706 million globally, less than the less-expensive previous film which managed to earn $758 million.  This is particularly striking because the film cost an estimated $455 million to make and promote and opened on more screens and with a stronger global interest in Hollywood entertainment.  The film even failed to match the box-office success of the original Sam Raimi films, who had a very small global presence and set domestic box-office records at the time of release.

Shortly ago, screenwriter Roberto Orci announced his departure from the series to direct Star Trek 3 with Paramount Pictures.  On his way out he had some rather dubious things to say to IGN about the series future that casts real doubt on Sony’s plans for the series:

“I don’t know what their plans are for that franchise. I don’t ever want to say never, but we have to figure out what their scheduling is in terms of when they want each movie. I’ve read probably as much as anyone else. There’s a love for the Sinister Six, the idea of Venom — there’s an idea of Spider-Man’s going to be one of these characters that’s part of our business. He’s such a popular character. Spider-Man’s not going to go away any time soon. When it all happens and how and all that has yet to be determined.”

Then on July 23 Sony made the announcement that Amazing Spider-Man 3 would no longer be released in November 2016 but will now arrive in 2018 with Sinister Six, helmed by Drew Goddard, releasing in 2016.  It seems that Sony is desiring more time to find a way to reenergize the series and is putting a great deal of weight onto the back of Sinister Six to perform.  Who knows if that is even possible given that Spider-Man’s villains are hardly established characters with the global public.