A huge blow for fans of Spidey's involvement in the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been dealt, with the news that Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige, and Marvel Studios for that matter, will not be producing Spider-Man movies going forward.
As reported by Deadline, the news follows several months of negotiations between Sony and Disney regarding the financing (and therefore profit-sharing) of individual Spider-Man movies in the future. This comes after Spider-Man: Far From Home, which was produced by Feige alongside Amy Pascal, rode high on being part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe; Tom Holland's Peter Parker was even presented as “the Next Tony Stark". However, there was no mention of Spidey in Marvel's recent Phase Four reveal at San Diego Comic-Con.
Grossing more than $1.1 billion and counting, Far From Home is the biggest movie in both Spider-Man and Sony Pictures’ history, but Disney only saw 5 per cent of the first dollar gross on the film, as with Spider-Man: Homecoming before it. Disney was keen on setting up a co-financing deal where it would pay for 50 per cent of the production and therefore net a much larger slice of studio profit.
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While it is true that both movies were produced by Marvel Studios, they are still Sony Pictures films, and asking to take on half the production costs and rewards did not apparently enthuse Sony Pictures chief Tom Rothman.
According to Deadline, after Disney suggested a 50/50 split of co-financing, Sony flatly refused and did not come back with a counter offer. (Sony had initially suggested maintaining the 5 per cent deal from the last two movies.) As a consequence, Feige is effectively out as producer, and Spider-Man is likely out of appearing in any more Marvel Studios-produced Avengers movies at Disney.
That is not to say that Tom Holland's Spidey is in any danger of disappearing or being rebooted. In fact, Holland and director Jon Watts are under contract for two more Spider-Man movies that will keep the version of the character introduced in Captain America: Civil War in multiplexes for the foreseeable future. Having that “creative template” in place is one of the reasons Sony felt comfortable in letting its deal with Disney collapse.
This should not be terribly surprising for fans who’ve paid attention to the unusual relationship between the two studios over the years. Pascal, who will take over as full lead producer with Feige gone, has previously hinted that this first couple of Spidey movies might be the only time Spider-Man is in the MCU. Indeed, the fact that Marvel Studios produced these solo movies with little reward is a rarity that in part stemmed from Feige’s public affection for the character, who he’s referred to as the greatest superhero ever created.
Feige was only able to make this deal after Sony’s own first rebooted take on the character with Andrew Garfield began to flag in 2014 after the insipid The Amazing Spider-Man 2 underperformed. And even then, it was Sony’s internal trepidation about the character’s future in the infamous email leaks that alerted Feige and Disney to the prospect that there was a real possibility for the character to be shared.
With that said, Disney asking for 50 per cent control of the Spider-Man movies when it already owns the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe that Sony is forced to compete with – as well as all the merchandising rights to Spider-Man – seemed like a lofty proposition for any studio’s most prized intellectual property. Sony has also now proven it can successfully produce its own Spider-Man-adjacent films without Disney’s input, having seen Venom gross $856 million and Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse winning the Best Animated Feature Oscar all on its own.
What Kevin Feige and Marvel Studios have most offered, both the industry and audiences, is an unprecedented level of consistency. There are criticisms to be made, but by and large Marvel Studios movies are generally well-received and have all made money due to that quality control, with this summer's Avengers: Endgame becoming the highest-grossing movie of all-time.
It is a feat that every other studio with its own stable of superheroes has struggled to repeat, including Sony. However, unlike 2014, a post-MCU Sony is in a healthy place. In addition to sequels to Venom and Into the Spider-Verse in the works, Sony also has a Morbius movie starring Jared Leto in production, with other spin-offs in development. And now those characters – including Tom Hardy's Eddie Brock – can interact with Tom Holland’s incredibly popular Peter Parker and still, implicitly, be part of the MCU. At least that’s how many audiences will view them if Holland appears.
The box office power generated by this change of responsibilities could be great. We'll bring you more on this as we have it.
