Sony Committed to Theatrical Releases After Success of Spider-Man: No Way Home and Ghostbusters Afterlife

While quite a few studios are moving further into the realm of streaming, Sony Pictures is doubling down on its commitment to exclusive theatrical releases. The exclusive theatrical release window has indeed gotten smaller across the board, but Sony is sticking to the concept of those exclusive releases, thanks to a successful run at the box office over the year or so. Spider-Man: No Way Home, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, and Ghostbusters: Afterlife all found popularity without the help of streaming, so Sony is sticking with the model moving forward.

ComicBook.com’s Cam Bonomolo was in attendance for Sony’s presentation at CinemaCon 2022 on Monday night, where the company’s president of worldwide marketing, Josh Greenstein, confirmed the commitment to theatrical releases. Greenstein specifically mentioned the success of Ghostbusters and the recent Marvel films, as well as Spider-Man: No Way Home‘s 88-day theatrical window.

This is big news for some upcoming Sony releases. This year will see substantial films like Where the Crawdads Sing and Bullet Train hitting theaters, while next year is a massive year for Marvel collaborations from Sony. 2023 will see Kraven the Hunter and Madame Web releases on the big screen, in addition to the highly anticipated follow up to Oscar-winner Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.

Unlike a few of the other big studios, Sony doesn’t have its own direct streaming service. Disney, Warner Bros., NBCUniversal, and Paramount have all used their streaming services for day-and-date releases, shorter theatrical windows, and exclusive streaming debuts of their films. Sony has sent a couple of films, like The Mitchells vs. the Machines, to Netflix for an exclusive debut, but it appears that won’t be a commonly used option in the future. 

There has yet to be any confirmation regarding the specific length of the theatrical window for future Sony movies. Ultra-successful films like Spider-Man: No Way Home will likely see much longer windows.

Are you excited to see Sony’s upcoming movie slate stick to a theatrical release plan? Let us know in the comments!