Here’s some interesting information about two recent (really big) Hollywood films taken from boxofficemojo.com
Spiderman No Way Home (released 16 December) raked in 81 million dollars over Christmas weekend.
Matrix Resurrections (released 22 December) raked in 12 million over the same weekend.
Let me also be clear about where I stand on both of these franchises: these films have a lot of nostalgia value for people like me that were young enough to have their cinema experience permanently changed by the first Matrix film (1999) and the Sam Raimi Spiderman (2002). I was drawn back to them by my own wide-eyed younger self.
But despite my fondness for Spiderman (the character, not this film) I was so disappointed that it steamrolled over Matrix ruthlessly.
Apart from the fact that Spiderman — No Way Home (SNWH) was a shit film (more on that in a separate post), the behemoth that is Disney-MCU is gobbling up cinema like Galactus gobbles up planets.
Sure, when small budget films and foreign cinema get crushed under studio heels no one cares. But this is a great case for an extremely powerful film, by extremely powerful film makers, being taken to the cleaners by a much below average superhero assembly line product.
I cannot think of a better case study for how a monopolistic company or franchise can wreck the playing field. Matrix Resurrections (M4) is not a perfect film (again, more on that in a separate post) but it was leagues better than SNWH.
Moreover, it isn’t even about the quality of the film itself here. Going for the Matrix should be like going for a new Star Wars film or a new Jurassic Park. Even the bad ones should lure in the audiences that grew up with the originals. So then what explains M4’s inability to do so?
The reasons will be manifold and complex. But to me the most significant and far-reaching one is that with Disney-MCU having decided to dominate every one of our movie-going experiences, we have all willingly folded up and agreed to go along with their plan. Audiences will re-watch SNWH thrice without hesitation and not go for M4 even once.
Shame on all of us who were gifted that marvel of a trilogy by the Wachowskis. Seems like we’ve swallowed the blue pill.