SPIDER-MAN: BROADWAY’S COSTLIEST FLOP?

Apparently concluding that Broadway producers of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark planned to keep pushing back the official premiere of the musical ad infinitum, New York theater critics decided to break protocol Tuesday and review it while it was still in previews. They unanimously damned the $65-million production. Michael Riedel, who writes the “Broadway Matinee” column for the New York Post and co-hosts Theater Talk on PBS, said today (Wednesday) that “depending on how much more money its backers are willing to lose,” it’s unlikely that the show will last past the summer. He quoted a source privy to the show’s finances as saying that it’s “dead.” While there has been much speculation about whether Disney, which owns Marvel, the comic book company that created Spider-Man, or Sony Films, which owns the Spider-Man movie franchise, will be harmed by the show’s failure, several authorities have previously indicated that Marvel has a straight licensing agreement with the Broadway producers and that neither studio stands to take any loss whatsoever if and when Turn Off the Dark goes dark.