Sony has made some questionable decisions when it comes to building up its live-action Spider-Verse. One of these was the movie Morbius, a film that, even if it was great, likely should’ve come out after an actual Sony Spider-Man movie. The film’s quality didn’t help, with the recent re-release only making things worse as far as its infamous reputation. In fact, re-releasing a somewhat recent Spider-Man flick would’ve been a way better idea.
The Amazing Spider-Man movies may not have been received the way that Sony wanted, but they’re still light years better than anything in Morbius. Likewise, there’s continued interest in Andrew Garfield as Spider-Man, and putting his movies back in theaters would be a good way to test just how profitable a third Amazing Spider-Man film could be.
Fans Want More of Andrew Garfield's Spider-Man
The Amazing Spider-Man movies, namely the first one, were definitely not respected enough in their time. Coming out after the mostly lauded trilogy from Sam Raimi, the movies had big shoes to fill. Years after their release, however, fans have been a lot more appreciative of them, namely Garfield's take on the Webslinger himself. Now, especially after Spider-Man: No Way Home, fans want to see more of where this second cinematic Peter Parker goes. Sadly, it seems that Sony is more focused on anything but this crowd-pleasing idea.
Giving Morbius his own movie was a stretch, to begin with, but it could have worked. Needless to say, however, what fans got on the big screen wasn't anything worth waiting for, and Morbius has since become a cinematic joke of the highest order. The movie did make some money and wasn't nearly as much of a flop as many claim it was. Nevertheless, it was a disappointment on several levels, so Sony re-releasing the movie, even if it was just to foolishly chase the popularity of a meme, was an incredibly boneheaded move. If any Sony Spider-Man movie should be re-released to score a few extra bucks, now's a better time than ever to make that movie one of, if not both, the Amazing Spider-Man films.
An Amazing Spider-Man Re-Release Could Test How Viable a Sequel Is
The "brilliant" idea of putting Morbius back into theaters didn't result in it scoring "morbillion" dollars for Sony, proving once again that it never was "morbin' time" at the box office. In the lead-up to the film, however, many fans were wondering if Sony would finally reveal who the Spider-Man in its current universe is. Several Easter eggs seemingly hinted at Morbius, Venom and Venom: Let There Be Carnage being in the same continuity as the Amazing Spider-Man movies, which hyped fans up for Garfield's return. Of course, he wasn't in the movie, but the huge desire to see him again shows exactly which films Sony should be putting back in theaters.
A good idea would be to re-release The Amazing Spider-Man and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 in theaters again. Have one in theaters worldwide for one month, with the next month then showing the sequel in theaters. The global market, namely that of Asia, has grown exponentially since the original release of these films, so even though they're now old movies, they could still score a good bit of change if the interest is truly there. From this, Sony can gauge just how marketable the movies and their universe are, then decide whether to officially make it part of its otherwise moribund cinematic universe.
Unlike with Morbius, which had a borderline underground re-release, these movies coming back to theaters should be hyped up through social media and maybe even quickly edited together commercials and trailers. In doing something rather simple and putting these films back in the spotlight, Sony can shake off some of the stink of Morbius while seeing how amazing Andrew Garfield's Spider-Man really is at the box office.