Sony's Jeff Blake agrees the middle ground is getting squeezed out at the domestic box office but takes a holistic view. "A lot of event pictures, including 'Amazing Spider-Man,' are delivering around the world, as are comedies and adult dramas like The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. I think you have a pretty healthy market."
Just who will be showing up in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 — or, perhaps, in the third and fourth installments to the Sony superhero series? A new fake news report from the in-universe Daily Bugle Tumblr throws all kinds of Easter Eggs, teases and potential spoilers out into the wilds of the Internet.
Headlined “Oscorp Biz Holds Steady,” the report — by Joy Mercado, a Bugle reporter who appeared in Spider-Man comics throughout the 1980s — name drops an Oscorp spokesman called Douglas Menken, who shares a surname with Norman Osborn’s comic book PA Donald Menken, as well as Oscorp employee Spencer Smythe, an inventor in the comic book who went on to create the robotic Spider-Slayers.
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For those willing to go further down the rabbit hole, the report also teases some other classic Spider-villains, mentioning hydroelectric power (Hydro Man, perhaps? Or maybe Electro, who we know is appearing in the second movie?) as well as a flight harness being developed for the military, which brings to mind the Vulture.
Even if you’re not willing to entertain that level of speculation, there’s far clearer groundwork for the next movie being laid in the report, with Norman Osborn’s health issues being raised and his son, Harry, being identified as “the company’s estranged heir apparent.” Despite its clear bias against everyone’s favorite web-slinger, maybe the Bugle really is the best source of information for those who want to find out more about Spider-Man’s world before the release of next summer’s sequel …
