Sony Pictures has not been having a very good time trying to do is own extended universe thing. To be fair, no one has really been able to succeed at it the way Marvel Studios did leading all the way up to “Avengers: Endgame.” And even they’ve stumbled. But no one has fallen on their faces harder than Sony. Maybe there were some people who thought “Morbius“ was going to be a good idea, but after that flopped (twice) nothing good could happen. But one of the men who spearheaded it all is leaving Sony for a new studio and who knows what good could come of this too!
Palak Patel was with Sony Pictures for nearly a decade. Along with “Morbius,” he also oversaw “Madame Web,” “Kaven the Hunter,” and the “Venom” trilogy. He was also described as the “point man” for the trio of Tom Holland “Spider-Man” films that were co-produced with Marvel Studios. Considering how those movies are so far removed from what the studio has done in terms of quality and success, you could probably credit the Marvel machine more than Patel for those.
Regardless, Patel has essentially overseen one of the largest slate of laughingstock films that have ever been released by a major distributor. This did not deter him though from finding another job at another studio. Patel will be joining Prime Focus Studios. Lately, the company worked on co-producing “The Garfield Movie” and has an upcoming “Angry Birds” sequel.
According to reports, the studio wants to produce films with well-known intellectual properties and they wanted someone at the helm that could work with larger studios.
We guess if that’s what you’re looking for, Patel certainly has that kind of experience. At the same time though, how do you look at someone’s tenure and excuse the mess that was Sony’s extended Spider-Man villain universe? After the failure of “Morbius” you’d think someone would look at what else was coming and pull a David Zaslav and cancel these things as a tax write off. Instead, Patel helped give the world some of the worst comic book films of the modern era.
Prime Focus Studios, we wish you luck. Here’s hoping your hiring choice is everything you want it to be. Maybe you’re just “Kraven” some punishment, we won’t judge you.
