Sony's Spider-Man 3 (Out of the MCU, Back In Again, and BEYOND)

[Autbot_Benz]

BREAKING Spider-Man is out of the MCU

Disney-Sony Standoff Ends Marvel Studios & Kevin Feige’s Involvement In ‘Spider-Man’



EXCLUSIVE: Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige won’t produce any further Spider-Man films because of an inability by Disney and Sony Pictures to reach new terms that would have given the former a co-financing stake going forward. A dispute that has taken place over the past few months at the top of Disney and Sony has essentially nixed Feige, and the future involvement of Marvel from the Spider-Man universe, sources said.

This comes at a moment when the last two films Kevin Feige produced broke all-time records — Disney’s Avengers: Endgame became the highest grossing film of all time, and Spider-Man: Far From Home this week surpassed the James Bond film Skyfall to become the all time highest grossing film for Sony Pictures.



Sources said there are two more Spider-Man films in the works that are meant to have director Jon Watts and Tom Holland front and center. Unless something dramatic happens, Feige won’t be the lead creative producer of those pictures.

There is a lot of webbing here, but it all comes down to money, and it’s easy to understand why both sides refused to give ground. Disney asked that future Spider-Man films be a 50/50 co-financing arrangement between the studios, and there were discussions that this might extend to other films in the Spider-Man universe. Sony turned that offer down flat, and I don’t believe they even came back to the table to figure out a compromise. Led by Tom Rothman and Tony Vinciquerra, Sony just simply didn’t want to share its biggest franchise. Sony proposed keeping the arrangement going under the current terms where Marvel receives in the range of 5% of first dollar gross, sources said. Disney refused.

Now, it’s easy to say that Feige has enough on his plate, especially after taking control of the X-Men universe in the Fox acquisition, including the Deadpool franchise, along with architecting the next phase of the Marvel superhero universe and building movies and shows for Disney +. But I’m told Feige loves Spider-Man, arguably the biggest superhero character in the Marvel canon. He would have continued if Disney and Sony could have reached new deal terms.

Essentially Sony has made a decision that is similar to saying, thank you, but we think we can win the championship without Michael Jordan. After all, Feige’s first decade at Marvel is largely unblemished and his consistency has been nothing short of historic: even George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson haven’t seen everything turn into a hit, and so maybe only James Cameron has the success record that Feige has achieved. But Feige has done it all in the last 10 years, producing and overseeing 23 superheros, with not a flop in the bunch. They’ve all been number one openers that have collectively grossed $26.8 billion. Feige this year became the producer of the top grossing film ever for two studios — Sony and Disney — and he produced three of the top four highest grossing films this year in Avengers: Endgame, Captain Marvel and Spider-Man: Far From Home. This after scoring the first ever Best Picture Oscar nom for a superhero film last year with Black Panther. I can’t think of a Hollywood producer/executive who has done anything close to this.

And the launch of the new iteration of Spider-Man was done brilliantly with Marvel’s support and help. It has been a boon to both studios. Tom Holland’s character was introduced in the Joe & Anthony Russo-directed 2016 blockbuster Captain America: Civil War, the film that set up the two record breaking Avengers films. Sony’s first rebooted Spidey film, 2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming, rode that Marvel wave and grossed $880 million worldwide, and then the webslinger was a key character in the two Avengers films, leading to the Spidey sequel that this week became Sony’s top grossing film ever.

Sources said Disney’s top brass for the past several months has sought new terms for Feige and the Marvel cross-pollination to continue. As the Spider-Man relationship grew, Feige and Sony Pictures chief Tom Rothman spoke about the possibility of a wider involvement in the Sony-controlled Spider-man universe, which contains 900 characters. I’m told that Feige lent an unofficial hand with the blockbuster Venom, but I’ve also been told that that film was far from the polished product that grossed $856 million worldwide, until Rothman himself spent a good long time in the editing room helping to get it there.

It is understandable that the fiscally shrewd Rothman would balk at giving up half of Sony’s biggest franchise to Marvel. After all, Marvel already owns the merchandising on Spider-Man. Does the Mouse really need half of the movie universe also? Sony so far has decided that as valuable as Feige is, Disney is asking too high a price.

Sources said that Sony reasoned that they will be fine, without Feige. The creative template has been set on the Spider-Man films, and Watt and Holland are in place along with Amy Pascal, who became producer with Feige after she exited the executive suite after presiding over the previous Spider-man iterations directed by Sam Raimi and Marc Webb as Sony Pictures chief.

The Venom sequel is well underway with Andy Serkis directing Tom Hardey, and there is Morbius with Jared Leto, Kraven The Hunter, and another spinoff with the characters Silver Sable and Black Cat. And a Sinister Six film that got shelved. Sony, which once felt the ticking clock of generating a Spider-Man film every three or so years to prevent a rights reversion to Disney, now has plenty of pictures to make. And the studio also won the Best Animated Feature Oscar for Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, a smash hit they made on their own.

No comment from Marvel/Disney, Feige or Sony Pictures.


https://deadline.com/2019/08/kevin-f...er-1202672545/

[Andrew NDB]

This is Disney playing hardball. Expect them to miraculously reach a new deal in a week or two.

[neatoman]

What the hell? The movie makes over a billion dollars and they still don't think making another is worth it?

[Autbot_Benz]

Blame the walking Cancer to movie studios Tom Rothman it reeks of him

[CyberCubed]

It mostly means Spider-Man won’t be in any future Avengers movies for now, which doesn’t matter much since Avengers is kinda done after Endgame and we see their upcoming movie slate.

Tom Holland is still under contract for 2 more movies with Sony so his movies will continue. You just won’t see Peter whining about Tony Stark anymore which is actually a good thing going forward.

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

Huh. Quite the interesting development!

While the MCU has changed a lot of important things in Spiderman lore to make their movies, they're also the only studio to make me enjoy a Spiderman movie.

However, I also enjoyed the Sony Venom movie.

This could be bad, or good, or both. I kinda lean towards both.

[oldmanwinters]

Well, we'll see what happens, but if Disney/Sony do have their break-up does that mean we'll say farewell to Zendaya's "MJ" and all the other MCU Spider-support characters?

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by oldmanwinters

Well, we'll see what happens, but if Disney/Sony do have their break-up does that mean we'll say farewell to Zendaya's "MJ" and all the other MCU Spider-support characters?

No, they would 100% be allowed to be in Sony-exclusive Spider-Man movies.

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

Incoming Sinister Six movie in 2020.

And a Spiderman / Venom crossover in 2021.

And a Spiderman 3 in 2022.

And a reboot in 2023.

[CyberCubed]

All the actors are staying, at least until their contracts are up. All this means is you won't see Spiderman appearing in any future MCU movies, and assumingly Spiderman won't talk about Tony Stark anymore in his movies (which as I said, is actually a good thing because now Peter Parker can stand on his own instead of being Iron Man Jr.). All the actors/actress and new relationships should stay the same.

Honestly if the writing is good this may not turn out so bad. And as I said we now know what most of the next phase of Marvel movies are...I don't think Spiderman had any reason to appear in any of them anyway. I mean, unless you wanted Spidey to appear in Doctor Strange 2 for some reason.

[Autbot_Benz]

https://variety.com/2019/film/news/s...nt-1203308069/

variety thinks a deal still can be reached

[Andrew NDB]

Disney wants 50% profit now, up from 5% (the previous deal). That's... a huge increase. They can't expect to get Sony to agree to that, and I doubt they do. They're going to meet in the middle around 10-20% in a few days and that'll be that. This is just typical hardball negotiations, methinks, with Disney/Marvel knowing they have the upper hand.

[Shark_Blade]

I have to laugh.

[The Deadman]

I jumped on social media and the idiots on Twitter are claiming that since the partnership is dissolved, that means Tom Holland is out as Spider-Man. Like no article has claimed that at all.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by The Deadman

I jumped on social media and the idiots on Twitter are claiming that since the partnership is dissolved, that means Tom Holland is out as Spider-Man. Like no article has claimed that at all.

Sony would never have signed a deal with Marvel/Disney like that, where that could happen.

[TommyT]

Sony will lose this battle.

[Andrew NDB]

Disney/Marvel probably leaked this "current turn" on purpose, to get public pressure behind Sony to take their offer or at least meet them closer to the middle.

I guess that "SM2 must make 1 billion or it reverts to Sony!" thing was totally fake.

[Redeemer]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

Disney wants 50% profit now, up from 5% (the previous deal). That's... a huge increase. They can't expect to get Sony to agree to that, and I doubt they do. They're going to meet in the middle around 10-20% in a few days and that'll be that. This is just typical hardball negotiations, methinks, with Disney/Marvel knowing they have the upper hand.

Where do you see it say that "Disney Wants 50% of the profit"??? (Also Disney does not get 5% profit. They get the first 5% of the gross. Semantics ) The article I read does not list what Disney wants in terms of revenue breakdown, but indication is that they do not want to continue with the first 5% gross.

Also From the article I have read Disney want Sony to help pay for the production of these movies "50%" instead of Disney having to pay for the entire production themselves.


https://deadline.com/2019/08/kevin-f...er-1202672545/

[Autbot_Benz]

Its over for now https://mcucosmic.com/2019/08/20/its...aving-the-mcu/

Sony has issued a statement to The Hollywood Reporter:

“Much of today’s news about Spider-Man has mischaracterized recent discussions about Kevin Feige’s involvement in the franchise,” says a Sony spokesperson. “We are disappointed, but respect Disney’s decision not to have him continue as a lead producer of our next live action Spider-Man film.”

“We hope this might change in the future, but understand that the many new responsibilities that Disney has given him – including all their newly added Marvel properties – do not allow time for him to work on IP they do not own,” says the statement. “Kevin is terrific and we are grateful for his help and guidance and appreciate the path he has helped put us on, which we will continue.”

[AquaParade]

Surprising bit of news to hear yesterday. I'm sure they are still in negotiations, so we will have to wait for the true outcome. Interesting either way.

One thing I'd like to call out is the amount of people doing drive-by replies, all over the internet, to the tune of "get it together SONY!", as if they have any clue. I understand how and why Disney has earned audience respect over Sony, but most of the people don't know the finer details of the negotiation, and therefor are implying that Sony should just take whatever deal is handed them by Disney no mater what. Pretty ridiculous.

I was commenting the other day, in another thread here, that I wouldn't be heartbroken if Spider-Man went back to Sony at this point. I'm basically satiated by the fact that the MCU exists with Spider-Man in it. I had a hard time buying into it before the fact. We've seen what it's like to see Spider-Man team up with the Avengers, and it is glorious. I'd like to see more of it. I'd like to see Spider-Man meet the X-Men. I'd prefer Spider-Man to stay in the MCU. That said, I'm not heartbroken by the possibility of seeing this version of Spider-Man getting to branch out on own a bit at this point. If Sony can transition out of the MCU smoothly, then it would be quite exciting to see them explore potentially edgier stories, now that this Peter of version is growing up. You know Sony has a hankering for Kraven's Last Hunt.
I think maybe we can have our cake and eat it too, in this scenario. If Sony doesn't flub it up. Most people won't trust them, especially after Marvel has been successful with Spider-Man. And again, I'd prefer Spider-Man to stay in the MCU, but I think Sony gets less credit than they deserve. They have done wonderful things with the character on their own.

Maybe it doesn't hurt that I didn't absolutely love Far From Home. I enjoyed it, and I'm anxious to view it again and see if it has grown on me, but I wasn't blown away the way I expected to be. It makes it easier for me to sit here and say "yeah, okay. Switch it up."