There’s a broader problem too, in that the last two films have been less well received that Sam Raimi’s first two movies. Sony would also have wanted the Marvel trend to kick in, and for the second film to make substantially more than the first. That’s not happened though. But a $700m global take is still comfortably enough to springboard a few more movies.

The biggest threats

That Sony isn’t winning over fans with what it’s doing. And in particular, it’s not winning over American fans. The US audience for Spider-Man movies is less than half what it was when the first film was released, and – crucially – there’s little sign of that decline being arrested. Appreciating that major comic book movies need to be aimed at a broader audience than the core fans, there’s still a lot of value in keeping the fanbase onside.

Andrew Garfield has also suggested – although crucially not confirmed – that The Amazing Spider-Man 3 is likely to be his last turn as the webslinger. That leaves Sony with a huge headache if true. It needs core Spider-Man films to keep this movie universe going, in the way that Fox has effectively built its X-Men universe around Wolverine. With Garfield gone, would the studio have to reboot again? Could it even get away with rebooting again? That’s a question that it may just have two years to come up with an answer to – and the health of the planned spin-offs may just depend on it.

One more big challenge: its most intriguing spin-off movie, The Sinister Six, will be a big Hollywood blockbuster with, presumably, villains as protagonists. That’s a huge gamble. We’d wager that Sony had an office trip out to see Maleficent, to see just how Disney managed to make that work.

So, in good health?

Stable, but with no dramatic signs of growth.

Confirmed future projects