In 2012, Sony’s Columbia Pictures had their biggest year ever at the U.S. box office… by a lot. Their top 5 films (“Skyfall”, “The Amazing Spider-Man”, “Men in Black 3”, “Hotel Transylvania” and “21 Jump Street”) grossed more than $1 Billion combined. At the time, “MIB 3” served as the conclusion of that franchise. Sony decided to immediately put follow-ups for the other four films into motion.
Columbia released “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” & “22 Jump Street” in 2014 – & “Hotel Transylvania 2” & “Spectre” in 2015. “22 Jump” made more money than “21 Jump”, but directors Phil Lord & Christopher Miller felt like it was a good place to stop creatively. For “Hotel T2”, which also earned more than the first installment, Sony Pictures Animation chose to continue the adventures of the Drac pack. 2018’s “Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation” had an almost identical gross to “HT2” – so we’re gonna get a 4th chapter in 2021.
But “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” was a box office decline compared to the first movie. So Sony decided to reboot the Spidey story AGAIN, first introducing Tom Holland’s Peter Parker in 2016’s “Captain America: Civil War” – officially bringing him into Disney & Marvel Studios’ Marvel Cinematic Universe. 2017’s “Spider-Man: Homecoming” quickly became one of Sony’s biggest releases ever.
As for James Bond… “Spectre” was the last entry under Columbia Pictures distribution. It barely crossed the $200 million domestic mark, compared to “Skyfall”’s $304M. So taking over distribution with the release of “No Time to Die” on April 10th: a re-vamped MGM.
Will Sony feel shaken without 007? I don’t think so. 2019 was the first year since 2012 that the top 5 Columbia Pictures films grossed more than $1 Billion combined in the U.S. Leading the way: “Spider-Man: Far From Home” – the next chapter in the chronicles of Tom Holland’s Peter Parker. It earned $56 million more than “Homecoming”. Not far behind: “Jumanji: The Next Level”, the sequel to 2017’s juggernaut “Welcome to the Jungle”… which was a reboot of the 1995 Robin Williams family classic, “Jumanji”.
A couple of Oscar winners came in 3rd and 4th for Columbia in 2019: Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” and Greta Gerwig’s “Little Women”. The only clunker on the list: the No. 5 release, “Men in Black International”. Chris Hemsworth & Tessa Thompson’s reboot just didn’t connect with audiences, only generating $80 million.
So, none of the latter three on the chart will be getting any follow-ups. But you can expect another “Spider-Man” and “Jumanji” sometime in the next few years. And an animated Spidey tale is spinning its own successful web. Oscar winner “Into the Spider-Verse” from Sony Animation will have a sequel coming out in 2022.
With new “Ghostbusters”, “Peter Rabbit”, “Escape Room” and “Venom” installments coming, along with Jared Leto’s “Morbius”, Tom Hanks’s “Greyhound” and the animated “Connected”, I’d say Sony/Columbia will continue to fly high over the next few years.