Everyone’s pumped following the release of the first Spider-Man: Homecoming trailer, and the unprecedented deal between Sony and Marvel looks to be a win-win for both parties. But the marriage might not be a long term one.
Former head of Sony, Amy Pascal, who helped put the deal together after years of negotiations, implied that the deal runs out after the second MCU-produced Spider-Man film set for 2019. With Pascal now no longer the head of Sony, when it comes to renegotiate things could get tricky.
Spider-Man being set to appear within the MCU and Avengers films is great for fans, but what happens if his two solo films bring in a lot of money and Sony suddenly wants Spidey to themselves? After all, they are developing their own set of films set in the Spider-Man universe, currently sans Spider-Man. In the money first world of Hollywood, I think we know where this is going.
Pascal’s full quote from CinemaCon is as follows:
“One of the things that I think is so amazing about this experience is that you don’t have studios deciding to work together to make a film very often. In fact it may never happen again, after we do the sequel. Because Sony, and Disney, and Marvel all decided that the right thing to do was to allow Peter Parker and Spider-Man to be in the MCU and to work with the Marvel guys and have them produce this film”.
“And I think that was a very rare thing for three companies to do, and a very brilliant thing for them to decide to do because there are only so many stories that you can tell again and again and again about Spidey, and this is something that we would have never been able to do in any other way. So it was a very selfless thing that very smart on the part of all the companies”.
Getting Spider-Man into the MCU was a coup that benefited both companies and allowed a fresh take on the character after the original Tobey Maguire well had run dry and a lackluster reboot starring Andrew Garfield. Financially, potentially losing the character wouldn’t hurt Marvel but creatively there’s a lot of talent and intrigue to mine.
If Sony pulled him away from the MCU, there’d likely be huge disappointment from fans. The only respite could be if Sony’s solo Venom and Black Cat films are big hits and fans want Spider-Man in that universe. Up against the juggernaut that is the MCU, though? Good luck.
#Peace.Love.SpiderMan
