With not-great movie studio impasses comes great Spidey fan heartbreak.
Deadline and Variety are reporting details regarding Sony Pictures and Disney's inability to reach new terms to continue their shared involvement in making movies based on the Marvel Comics character Spider-Man. The impasse means that Spider-Man will no longer appear in future Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) films going forward, and Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige will no longer be involved in guiding Sony's future Spider-Man films.
According to the articles, the central dispute between Sony Pictures and Disney is Disney's demand that future Spider-Man films be financed on a 50/50 basis between the two studios, with Feige remaining in a consulting producer capacity. Sony declined to share half of its valuable franchise, wanting to keep the current arrangement terms, which have Marvel receiving about 5% of first-dollar gross and all merchandising revenues. If Sony had agreed, Marvel and Feige wouldn't have withdrawn from future Spider-Man films.
Sony attempted to place the blame on Kevin Feige's workload, saying in a statement, "Much of today’s news about Spider-Man has mischaracterized recent discussions about Kevin Feige’s involvement in the franchise. 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. 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."
The "newly added Marvel properties" Sony mentioned refer to the movie rights to Marvel's Fantastic Four and X-Men characters that Disney now has as a result of their recent 21st Century Fox acquisition.
In 2015, Disney, Marvel and Sony announced a deal to share the Spider-Man film rights, which led to Tom Holland portraying a younger version of Spider-Man in Captain America: Civil War, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: Far From Home. Sony distributed the two solo Spider-Man films, while Disney distributed the others.
Sony is believed to be developing two more Spider-Man movies, with Holland reprising his role, but has not officially announced those titles. However, Spider-Man: Homecoming and Spider-Man: Far From Home director Jon Watts is not signed to return for a third film. This week, Spider-Man: Far From Home became Sony Pictures' all-time highest-grossing film, surpassing the James Bond film Skyfall, while Spider-Man: Homecoming made over $880 million worldwide.
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