What happened? Sony hasn’t enjoyed the most positive of press for its latest Spider-Man sequel this year. Coming off the back of the 2012 reboot, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was the film that was expected to see the new take on Spider-man really hit big. And it sort of did. With over $700m in the bank, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 has outgrossed X-Men: Days Of Future Past at the worldwide box office (although the latter will eventually overtake the former). Thing is, Spider-Man is seen as a disappointment, X-Men as a big hit.

And that’s probably fair. Days Of Future Past has grown the X-Men series financially, and it’s the top grossing movie in that film saga to date. The Amazing Spider-Man 2, however, has seen a stagnation of interest in Spider-Man movies. By the time its international run is done, the latest Spider-Man may just get to the $757m that The Amazing Spider-Man banked. But only just.

Yet there’s the DVD, Blu-ray and on-demand market to come, and by the time that’s done and dusted, Sony will have a tidy return on its latest Spider-Man investment.

So did it flop? No. It might have disappointed, and might not have grown the series in the way Sony would have wanted. But a $700m return on a $200-250m movie is a flop in nobody’s book.

Questions may arise over whether The Amazing Spider-Man 2 could and should have been a better film, of course. But it’s done more than ample business to keep the Spidey juggernaut running.

PLANET OF THE APES