Chain reactions are something that happens in our world whether we realize it or not, or even if we want it or not. Sometimes, people even try and create them to see where the chain goes. For entertainment businesses, chain reactions can happen when one movie or show or video game and so on leads to the success of something else they have made or done. For example, Sony motion picture group presidents Sanford Panitch and Josh Greenstein were more than happy to note that they believe the success of the new Top Gun film was because of Venom.
“There’s so much press about Top Gun right now. It’s like, ‘the movie business is back!'” Panitch told in an interview. “In a weird way, I would say Top Gun is benefitting from us taking our shot. Venom is the start of that story that allows Top Gun to do the kind of business it did. These things don’t happen overnight. It’s a seeding.”
“We took a big gamble putting Venom in theaters,” Greenstein continued. “Then we doubled down with Ghostbusters. Then our biggest bet was when every other tentpole had fled, we tripled down with Spider-Man – our biggest, most important piece of IP.”
There’s a lot to unpack here (not the least of which is a logic puzzle delivered by Sony). On one hand, you can see what they mean by saying Venom helped Top Gun because it was a risk that paid off. Thus, they were more confident to try risks with other IP.
However, it should be noted that the sequel, Let There Be Carnage, didn’t do as well as the original film, and the less we talk about Morbius…the better.
Then again, you can’t deny that Top Gun Maverick is the highest-grossing movie of 2022 right now with $1.2 billion in box office revenue right now. So maybe they’re right! …maybe.
Source: Vulture