Yesterday it was reported that Sony, who owns the movie rights to Spider-Man and Marvel/Disney, who owns everything BUT the movie rights to Spider-Man have split ways. This means that Marvel won’t be producing Spider-Man movies and that also means Spider-Man, in the foreseeable future, will not be in the MCU.
Personally, I feel Marvel deserves the offer they presented to Sony. The original agreement was that Marel Studios would produce the Spider-Man movies while Sony would just sit back and collect a check. The deal was 5/95. Marvel felt that they needed to be compensated fairly and asked for a 50/50 split. Sony execs didn’t like that so they decided to part way. Now Sony will have to produce and fully finance the Spider-Man movies.
Here is the latest update from Deadline.com about the split:
UPDATED at 8:55p.m. PT with Sony response: Sony Pictures spent much of yesterday trying to spin Deadline about the prospective loss of Kevin Feige from future Spider-Man films. First the studio downplayed the idea he might be leaving; then insiders pinned his exit on added responsibilities from the Fox acquisition of the X-Men franchise, though they declined to make a statement. All this was reflected as factors in Deadline’s break of an important and widely regurgitated story. But sources maintain that Feige’s exit was about money; it was about Disney seeking the 50/50 co-fi stake (sources said the original Disney ask was more reasonable) as the price for Marvel and Feige’s continued guiding hand that resulted in the delivery of Sony’s biggest grossing film ever. Sony declined to meet those terms or even counter with anything worth considering. It was an aggressive stance by Disney, which already owns the merchandise on Spider-Man, and a tough nut for Sony to swallow, giving up half of its most valuable franchise. But these talks had been going on for some time. Had Sony agreed to Disney’s ask, Marvel and Feige would not have withdrawn from the Spider-Man films, sources said.
Of course, some fans are upset about the news as am I!
We’ll see how this plays out over the next couple of years.
