Care to take a guess how many films under the Spider-Man banner is on the list of Sony’s 20 highest-grossing films in the United States?
Would it shock you if the answer was 8?
So on one hand, it makes sense for Sony to rely so much on the Spider-Man franchise.
Far From Home is about 30 million away from becoming Sony’s domestic biggest hit of all-time, while already claiming the crown as the biggest international hit Sony has ever made. The latest highly-acclaimed Spider-Man film has crossed a billion worldwide, offered a great storyline that ended in a hell of a cliffhanger revealed during the credit sequence. Everything is looking up, as Homecoming was also well-received, Tom Holland shines as the current web-slinger, and with an appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe it opens up the possibility of many engaging ideas and stories as well as crossovers and cameos Sony could only have dreamed about half a decade ago.
Doubling that with the surprise-surprise and probably fluke box office earnings of Venom as well as the critical darling and Best Animated Feature Oscar-winning Into the Spider-Verse, things are indeed looking up for Sony in the Spider-Man universe as they try to remain relevant in the world of Hollywood that has quickly become dominated by Disney.
And then Sony screws up all the goodwill and all the positive feedback and all forward momentum by not landing a deal with Disney and Marvel Studios to keep Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Sony seems to hate money because last time I checked, The Amazing Spider-Man series grossed 1.5 billion worldwide but managed only a cool dozen million in profits and combined can’t even match up to the global gross of the original Avengers film. Last time I checked, Sony historically has released two films that crossed a billion---but Disney this year alone has FIVE of them, with two coming under the MCU banner (Endgame, Captain Marvel). Last time I checked, the MCU has become the biggest cinematic series in the history of film, with the Avengers films alone outgrossing everything not called Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
So. Why. On. Earth. Would. You. Drop. This. Deal?
Disney’s asking price was 50/50? So what? Disney spent everything to purchase one-sixth of Hollywood to strip themselves of all legal hurdles involving Marvel and the Star Wars franchise. Of course the asking price was going to increase a bit. Of course after nearly 2 BILLION made within two Spider-Man films made possible by the House of Mouse they would want a larger piece of the pie.
So instead of picking guaranteed profits, instead of picking a partnership that can enhance ALL your Spider-Man franchises, including Tom Hardy Venom and the expansive Spider-Verse (R.I.P. Howard the Duck/Spider-Pig collaboration), instead of picking remaining in the largest money-making series in the history of the medium, you decide to gamble it all by doing it yourself? Disney could have demanded 60/40 and I would have taken the deal, simply because the treasure trove of properties Disney owns allows the opportunity to take Spider-Man places that I couldn’t before, which increases chances of financial wealth my Sony company rarely ever experiences.
Spider-Man could have teamed up with the Fantastic Four, or Deadpool, and could have even seen lesser-known IPs joining the web-slinger (or opposing him). Disney now has the Netflix Marvel characters, which I shall add, features a variety of characters and villains from the same setting of New York City. We could have seen Spider-Man joining the Defenders or at least Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, etc. We could have seen the Playstation Spider-Man feature many of these characters I have just mentioned. Imagine Insomniac Games creating an Iron Man/Spider-Man video game on the upcoming PS5. But biggest of all, Spider-Man’s resurgence was mainly because of appearing alongside Iron Man and the MCU.
Disney doesn’t need Spider-Man to continue winning, but Sony needs the MCU to survive.
Discounting a spectacular Into the Spider-Verse which will have their hands tied concerning the sequel because of changing hands and because of all the spin-off possibilities, the last three fully Sony Spider-Man films are as follows: Spider-Man 3 (ugh), Amazing Spider-Man (meh), and Amazing Spider-Man 2 (UUUUGHHHH). The track record of Sony has not been the strongest not just with Peter Parker, but with all movies in general. Look at what they have in theaters now: Men in Black International, Angry Birds 2, Escape Room. Their biggest non-Spider-Man film is Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. Oh yea, they also are rebooting Ghostbusters for the second time in five years. They need Spider-Man to succeed, so why on earth would you not continue latching it to the consistently guaranteed financial and critical success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe?
So gone is the Sinister 6 storyline, irrelevant are the events of Homecoming (with an awesome Vulture performance by Michael Keaton) and Far From Home. That awesome cameo by J.K. Simmons at the conclusion of Far From Home? Gone. Zendaya and Tom Holland as a couple? Probably gone. The mysterious plot involving Flash Thompson? Just a memory. Instead, we’ll probably see Tom Hardy and Andy Serkis’ Venom join Spider-Man in the next film, which means delays, which means a complete shift in tone, and might even mean a new actor to portray the hero. Everything has been shaken up unnecessarily, and its because of a mix of greed, arrogance, and because Marvel’s horrendous deal made decades ago still meanders the world of cinema today.
Even with Iron Man and Captain America gone, the future of the MCU and the future of comic book films remained positive, with many unexplored storylines and with the reuniting of nearly everybody Marvel under the same umbrella. We are inches from X-Men joining the MCU, inches from Dr. Doom finally making his villainous debut against the heroes, inches from getting a good Marvel vs. Capcom video game that isn’t wrapped up in petty IP fighting. And here comes Sony to crash things because of money, because of turning away guaranteed money. Such a shame.
I hope Sony realizes the terrible mistake they are making, because otherwise the MCU is going to have to kill the Spider-Man Cinematic Universe the same way they killed the DCEU: through strategic release dates, superior marketing, superior planning, and just having many more IPs to choose from.
The next generation of Marvel films is going to be fascinating, albeit, no longer fully connected.