Phil Lord and Chris Miller, fresh off having a major creative role in the critically acclaimed Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, are jumping ship. The filmmaking duo are leaving 20th Century Fox to set up a new overall deal at Sony Picture Entertainment. The deal mostly revolves around overseeing a slew of TV shows based on Marvel comic characters.
According to THR, Lord and Miller have each signed five-year deals, where they will create and develop comedy and drama projects for broadcast and streaming, as well as supervise other writers’ projects.
If you’re wondering how Sony still has the rights to some Marvel characters despite Disney’s monopolistic juggernaut and their purchase of Fox, let’s explain. While Disney now has the MCU and, with the Fox acquisition, X-Men and Fantastic Four, Sony still holds the license to the Spider-Man comics and characters within. Hence the Venom film, and it’s upcoming sequel.
So Lord and Miller’s new projects will include Spider-Man and his various villains, including Venom, Morbius, Black Cat, and Silver Sable. Feature film adaptations of these characters are in the works, but these projects are expected to be separate. Insiders see this move as a counter to the upcoming Disney+ MCU shows WandaVision, Falcon And The Winter Soldier, and the untitled Loki series.
Former Sony Pictures Entertainment co-chairman Amy Pascal, who produces the standalone Spider-Man movies, will be involved in some of Lord and Miller’s new Marvel series, which may also serve as an extension of the aforementioned Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse.
Lord and Miller were reportedly in demand with their Fox deal up. Netflix, Amazon, and more are trying to scoop up creators in an attempt to create a conveyer belt of content, but it seems the duo were happy to head over to Sony where they got their filmmaking start with Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs. They followed that up with two Jump Street movies.
So this should be exciting. Anything Lord and Miller are currently involved in turns to gold, and if they can continue creating quality content, this is a huge coup for Sony. On the feature film side of things, the duo are next expected to helm the sci-fi adaptation The Last Human, which is also set up at Sony.
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