Sony opts not to give Disney a greater cut of the Spider-Man films, and goes its own way.
Never let success get in the way of studio politics. Back when Sony struggled with it’s The Amazing Spider-Man movies, it inked a limited deal with Marvel Studios to share the screen rights to Spider-Man.
You may recall that Sony, thanks to a prescient deal it did around 20 years ago, is in control of Spider-Man on the big screen. But the agreement to collaborate – hugely unusual between two studios – has offered notable fruit for both of them. Marvel could include Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and Sony was able to reboot the franchise again with Spider-Man: Homecoming and Spider-Man: Far From Home. All with the input of Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige.
It’s no secret though that the deal was a limited one, that was coming up for renewal. And problems have hit. In spite of the fact that at least two more Spider-Man films are planned at Sony, these will no longer have the involvement of Feige.
This is down to a disagreement between the bosses at Disney and Sony. Disney wanted improved terms for a deal extension, Sony didn’t want to surrender any more financial points on what’s become its biggest franchise. As much as it’s easy to blame Sony on this one, it’d be interesting to discover just how much more Disney wanted for the deal to carry on. In fact, as this new report suggests, it looks like it was Disney’s call.
Thus, the ways have parted, and that suggests that you’ve seen the last of Spider-Man in the MCU.
Tom Holland and director Jon Watts are the incumbents, and will presumably be offered the third live action film.
Sony too will continue to develop its spin-off movie universe, with Venom 2 signing up Andy Serkis as director earlier this month.
More as we hear it. But: blimey.
