Except for those who live under a rock, the world is still taking in everything from Spider-Man: No Way Home. Despite box office performance generally being rocky across the film industry, the threequel still managed to become one of the most successful movies of all time. Not only did the project bring back Tom Holland for another round as the famous wall-crawler, but it orchestrated a team-up between him, Tobey Maguire, and Andrew Garfield—three different generations of Spider-Man.
Needless to say, the experience sitting in that theater on opening night was a blast. It rivaled Avengers: Endgame for the pure excitement that came from watching the three Spideys take on five different villains.
As fun as it was, however, the emotional threads of the movie were just as strong. One could easily argue that it was one of the most emotional and heart-breaking Spider-Man films to date.
This is something Tom Holland leaned on more than a few times while promoting the project. Oddly enough, it's an angle Sony itself wasn't all that fond of.
Sony Calls Foul on Holland's Promotion
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter for his upcoming film Uncharted, Tom Holland revealed that Sony wasn't the biggest fan of how he promoted Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Holland said that he "got a phone call from some people at the studios" due to how he was discussing the movie's "emotional" elements. As a result of Sony's angered marketing team, Holland "had to sort of change track on how [he] was promoting the movie:"
"It’s funny, I actually got in trouble on the press tour. I got a phone call from some people at the studio, saying, 'Stop saying the movie is brutal! Stop saying the movie is emotional! It doesn’t sell the movie!' And I was like, 'But it is! This is the most emotional superhero movie that’s ever been made.' And they were like, 'We want people to understand how fun it is.' And I was like, 'It is fun, but it’s also kind of heartbreaking.' So I had to sort of change track on how I was promoting the movie, but I’m glad I gave at least some people some warning.
Promoting the Truth for No Way Home
Tom Holland certainly wasn't lying when he warned fans about how emotional and intense the new film is. It's silly how Sony found issue with him promoting the project in that manner, seeing as those aspects of the movie received the most praise.
Sure, the movie was fun, but that only means so much without substance to back it up. Holland's words beforehand about how brutal and emotional the experience was going to be were high praise.
Of course, the studios were looking to play it as safely as possible to try and get the biggest turnout possible. Even with Holland's comments, it's safe to say that the film did pretty well—it's hard to imagine it letting down any of their pre-conceived expectations.
Spider-Man: No Way Home is still playing in theaters worldwide.
