Wary of producing a flop, Sony Pictures Entertainment said it would cut back on big-budget releases next year. But its caution does not apply to “The Amazing Spider-Man 2,” set for next summer.

Studios Unfazed by Colossal Wrecks - NYTimes.com

For Hollywood film studios, 2013 is shaping up as “the year of the flop,” as the public radio host Brian Lehrer described it on the air in August.