After
Spider-Man: Far From Home became the highest-grossing film in Sony Pictures history earlier this week, the celebration was cut short when it was reported by multiple sources that the co-producing deal between Sony and Walt Disney Studios had been terminated and that the friendly neighborhood wallcrawler would leave the Marvel Cinematic Universe, effective immediately.
There's been a lot of finger-pointing from both sides since the news broke, but according to a new report from
Variety, negotiations initially came up for renewal around six months ago. Some claim Sony did not move to act on a new pact while other insiders refute that and claim it was Disney that was no longer interested in continuing the partnership.
Even though several numbers have been floated around, it is now strongly believed that Disney was seeking at least a 50/50 partnership for the Spider-Man franchise, which Sony was unsurprisingly not on board with. Sony, however, was willing to potentially offer up to 25% of the Spidey film franchise to formally welcome Disney as a co-financing partner in exchange for the services of Marvel Studios head honcho Kevin Feige. Disney declined.
One insider noted that Disney may have had some extra motivation in pulling away from negotiations following the failure of
X-Men: Dark Phoenix as the studio reportedly wants Feige's full attention on the newly-acquired characters from 20th Century Fox, which include the X-Men, Deadpool and Fantastic Four. The source claimed Disney co-chairman Alan Bergman had been insisting on ending talks with Sony for some time, and was the one who had been representing the studio during renegotiation talks with uncertain motives.
For
Spider-Man: Homecoming and
Spider-Man: Far From Home, Disney held approximately 5% of first-dollar gross and own all licensing rights, the latter of which will be retained regardless of whether they strike a new film deal with Sony or not, meaning Spidey could - and likely will - still appear at Disney World, but not in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
There is a small sliver of hope in all this uncertainty as Sony Pictures chief Tom Rothman has a long history of being a master negotiator, and there are insiders that believe the very public nature of this breakup may just be a tactic to force Disney's hand into accepting more favorable terms for both sides.
Despite a conflicting report earlier today, Variety also confirmed that Tom Holland will be back for at least two more Spider-Man films, and has an option to renegotiate his current deal in the not-so-distant future. A crossover with Tom Hardy's
Venom is also said to be in the cards.
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