Spider-Man: Homecoming’ Reviews Forecast Another Marvel Hit

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Around The Playlist offices, “Spider-Man: Homecoming” didn’t look great, and many of us speculated that the superhero movie could be Marvel’s first dud in ages. Arguably, their first since “The Incredible Hulk” which only made $263 million worldwide in 2008. But it’s sounds like we’ll be happily wrong and pleasantly surprised. “Spider-Man: Homecoming” screened last night, and the movie seems to be garnering unanimous praise. Not only does it sound like Marvel hasn’t lost their Midas touch, these early tweet reviews suggest Marvel Studios have rescued the ailing franchise for Sony and nailed the comic book tone.

After the mostly-loved Sam Raimi “Spider-Man” movies, Sony obviously stumbled with their “The Amazing Spider-Man” series from director Marc Webb. The films did a healthy $700+ million worldwide each, but “Spider-Man” standards are high; they were the lowest grossing films in the series both domestically and worldwide. “Spider-Man” is generally considered the crown jewel character of all Marvel comics, so the expectation is that movies based on the webslinger should be making “Batman”-like money. It didn’t help that during “The Amazing Spider-Man” run, then-Sony chief Amy Pascal boasted that their films would hit the $1 billion mark. After falling far below that number, plus the infamous Sony WikiLeaks that followed, it was the one-two punch that ended her career as Sony’s president. But she’s still a producer on these new “Spider-Man” films, that are now within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and was instrumental in convincing Sony to let the Spidey/Marvel collaboration happen.

So by all accounts, Marvel, and now Sony, have another hit on their hands and perhaps more importantly, an entertaining summer blockbuster that could play all season long. Will it hit $1 billion? Wisely, none of the studio heads are making any predictions and at this point are likely hoping to just reset the brand. “Spider-Man: Homecoming” swings into theaters on July 7th. Check out the glowing reactions below and further down, a new clip from the film.