When it comes to box-office results, last year wasn't good for Sony Pictures Entertainment. The expected hits, like the
Ghostbusters remake and
Passengers underperformed, and the biggest Sony film of 2016 was
The Angry Birds Movie, which earned almost $350 million worldwide. Overall, Sony Pictures ended up with an 8% market share (less than 1/3 of Disney's total) and nearly a 6% drop from the 2015. The lack of big financial hits, many successes of the rest of Sony's divisions (PlayStation, Sony Music) and the recent departure of Sony Entertainment CEO, Michael Lynton (no announcement on his replacement has been made yet) are definitely not helping to improve the situation.
According to
The New York Post, the situation is so bad, that bank agents have recently visited Tokyo to advise on selling some of Sony Entertainment's properties. CEO of CBS, Lesile Moonves and unknown Chinese investors have expressed interest in buying both Columbia and the TV division, but Kazuo Hirai, president and CEO of Sony tried to calm things down. "
We see our entertainment businesses as essential parts of Sony", Hirai stated. That's when
The Emoji Movie enters the game.
As reported by the source, Sony is waiting till the end of the summer to make a final decision. In this period of time, they have prepared plenty of new releases, but only two of them are crucial - the movie about emojis and
Spider-Man: Homecoming. Shockingly, the second reboot of the Spider-Man movie franchise (set in the MCU) is less important - "
They want to see how "The Emoji Movie" does because they think they have a franchise and it might help them to get a bigger price", the source said.
We have to wait till the end of the summer to be sure, but what do you think about the potential deal right now?
The Emoji Movie releases on August 4 and
Spider-Man: Homecoming on July 7.
"The Emoji Movie" unlocks the never-before-seen secret world inside your smartphone. Hidden within the messaging app is Textopolis, a bustling city where all your favorite emojis live, hoping to be selected by the phone’s user. In this world, each emoji has only one facial expression - except for Gene (T.J. Miller), an exuberant emoji who was born without a filter and is bursting with multiple expressions. Determined to become “normal” like the other emojis, Gene enlists the help of his handy best friend Hi-5 (James Corden) and the notorious code breaker emoji Jailbreak (Ilana Glazer). Together, they embark on an epic “app-venture” through the apps on the phone, each its own wild and fun world, to find the Code that will fix Gene. But when a greater danger threatens the phone, the fate of all emojis depends on these three unlikely friends who must save their world before it’s deleted forever.
A young Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Tom Holland), who made his sensational debut in Captain America: Civil War, begins to navigate his newfound identity as the web-slinging super hero in Spider-Man: Homecoming. Thrilled by his experience with the Avengers, Peter returns home, where he lives with his Aunt May (Marisa Tomei), under the watchful eye of his new mentor Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.). Peter tries to fall back into his normal daily routine – distracted by thoughts of proving himself to be more than just your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man – but when the Vulture (Michael Keaton) emerges as a new villain, everything that Peter holds most important will be threatened.