MOVIE NEWS – Sony’s efforts to find a multi-movie franchise that works didn’t stop with Spider-Man. Before they tried Venom, they thought Robin Hood might save them.

Sony Pictures Entertainment has picked up some high-profile scars over the past decade. Their animation wing brings home the occasional hit. But their live-action efforts have struggled. Check out the big franchises. Ghostbusters, Men in Black, Resident Evil and many more of their films seemingly fell into a fatal trap. Their biggest mistake is their ambition and impatience. They only want one thing. They were willing to hunt down Robin Hood for the sake of a cinematic universe.

The crowning glory of Sony’s recent disasters is its treatment of Spider-Man: The Amazing Spider-Man films ended without an ending, thanks to the company’s deal with Disney.

Sony’s ongoing Spider-Man universe films have brought the world the funniest theatrical disasters ever recorded. The SSU remains alive, but above all, it is a farce.

But what was the “Hood”?

Remember last year when there were three competing Pinocchio films? The same situation happened in 2015 with the film adaptations of Robin Hood. Disney, Lionsgate and Sony each did a Robin Hood script simultaneously. Only one of the three made it to the screen. Lionsgate’s Robin Hood was a big flop in 2018. It cost the studio over $80 million in losses and earned a 15% positive score on Rotten Tomatoes. Disney’s Nottingham & Hood was presumably cancelled, as no company member has publicly mentioned it since 2015. Sony’s Hood also went down in flames with little explanation. The writers of Robin Hood (2018) thought their film would be bought up and cancelled by Sony to make room for the company’s big idea.

In October 2014, Sony announced that they were in talks to sign a seven-figure contract for Hood, with a script written by Cory Goodman and Jeremy Lott.

Goodman was best known for writing the 2011 horror/action film Priest, while Lott worked on the production of Spy Kids. But most of his other work has not yet been released. Back in the 2010s, Lott and Goodman wrote a sci-fi screenplay titled Lore, which was also of interest to Warner Bros. and Dwayne Johnson. However, there is still nothing to show for it. Former MGM president Michael De Luca brought Hood to Sony. He compared the project to the Fast and Furious saga or the Mission: Impossible franchise. Goodman and Lott didn’t just sell Hood. Goodman and Lott didn’t just sell the Hood. They invented a whole Robin Hood cinematic universe.

What would the Sony Robin Hood universe have been like?

After the undoubted colossal success that would have surrounded Hood, an adaptation of an ancient story by an untried screenwriter and the author of The Last Witch Hunter, Goodman and Lott had serious plans. Sony planned to make a film about every single “merry man” (R.H.’s bandits)! Little John was the first. The six-foot-two second-in-command would finally get to show off his fighting stick skills on the big screen in his own movie. Then came Friar Tuck, the man who filled the gang with hilarity. Finally, the unrivalled swordsman Will Scarlet could have stepped onto the big screen. Each of these films should make mountains out of molehills, deriving a full backstory from a few lines of dialogue. They would have to work through dozens of versions of the characters. The Robin Hood Universe would have a slight advantage over other examples of the genre. The failure was already there on the wall. Presumably, immediate cancellation was the best scenario.

Do we really need so many cinematic universes?

Was the “Robin Hood Cinematic Universe” a good idea? Of course, it wasn’t. Would it have been worse than Sony’s Spider-Man universe? Probably not.

At the very least, a plethora of roaring action movies about thieves in the forests of 13th-century England would stand out from the rest of the superhero aspirations.

The only successful cinematic universe is the all-encompassing Marvel empire. Although it is slowly showing signs of decline, comic book adaptations are the only thing most studios are willing to try.

Sony’s attempt to turn Spider-Man’s antagonists into heroes has run into significant pitfalls. They’re still trying, desperately reaching for what Marvel has no patience for. Their desperation makes each new attempt seem more and more embarrassing. If we could see them trying the same trick in another genre, it might at least mask their failure a little. There are several lessons to be learned from Hood’s failure. You don’t always have to think in terms of franchises. The world does not necessarily need another MCU…

Source: Screen Rant