EDITORIAL: Three Options SONY Has With SPIDER-MAN's Film Rights

EDITORIAL: Three Options SONY Has With SPIDER-MAN's Film Rights

Ever since Marvel Studios began their cinematic universe fans have been screaming "revert" at Sony for Spider-Man. Fans have done everything possible to let Sony know this is what they want, but there are other options Sony has that could benefit all. Take the jump to find them out!

Editorial Opinion
By yonny616 - Dec 06, 2014 10:12 PM EST
Filed Under: Spider-Man

Hello ComicBookMovie Community! Hope you're all doing great. Well, enough small talk, let's get down to business. So as all of you obviously know, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 hit theaters earlier this year and was, for the most part, a disappointment on both the financial and critical front. Currently The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is the lowest earning Spider-Man film in the entire franchise. There are probably many reasons as to why that is, but that's a different article for another time. So you're probably asking yourself what are those three things Sony can do with Spider-Man's film rights besides making a good film or just letting them revert? Well let's begin!

Sell The Spider-Man Film Rights Back To Disney/Marvel


Spider-Man is the biggest earning superhero of all time. I'm sure Sony can make a deal with Disney that'll benifit them both. I know many think this just hurts Sony in the long run as they are losing an iconic franchise that is worth billions, but Sony has many other potential franchises next door. Yes, I'm talking about their video game franchises. Obviously Sony is finally acknowledging this by making films based on Uncharted, The Last of Us, Ratchet & Clank, and Sly Cooper. Out of the list of video game movies I just mentioned each fills a spot in a genre. Sly Cooper, and Ratchet & Clank fill the family film genre, Uncharted fills the Indiana Jones type of action adventure genre, and The Last of Us fills the horror film genre. Yet that's not all. God of War could be their mythological epic and the inFamous franchise could be their superhero film. Personally I believe this would be a great idea and it's suprising Sony hasn't taken full advantage of this.

Trade The Spider-Man Film Rights For The Game Rights


Now, this one does sound dumb, but here me out. Currently Sony is bleeding money, even if it has slowed down. The only part of their company that is doing great is their PlayStation side. Currently Sony's PlayStation 4 is the best selling, and fastest selling, console. Now imagine how much more they could earn if they had Spider-Man as an exclusive video game franchise. Sony has constantly knocked it out of the park with their video games made by great developers like Naughty Dog, Sucker Punch, Santa Monica, and many others. Now imagine a Spider-Man game done by Naughty Dog or even Sucker Punch. This can also help their dying handheld, the PlayStation Vita. Nintendo's handheld has the domestic and foreign markets cornered with iconic franchises, but one of the main reasons is because their handheld is the only place to play Pokémon. With Spider-Man being hugely popular in both markets Sony can finally fight icon with icon, but this only works if Sony makes the games for the handheld and as many gamers know, they don't do as much as they could it.

Share Spider-Man With Disney/Marvel


This is possibly the least likely to happen of all the choices. Like I said before Spider-Man is the highest earning superhero of all time and Sony may not want to lose out on all those potential profits, especially if Marvel Studios manages to turn around the Spider-Man film franchise.  So how can Sony and Disney/Marvel share Spider-Man? Two words: Distribution rights. Now many of you may or may not know this, but Universal owns the distribution rights to all solo Hulk films as part of a deal they made with Marvel to give back the film rights. This means Marvel can make the movie, but Universal will distribute instead of Disney. Now there will be a small difference with Sony and Disney/Marvel sharing Spider-Man. The Sony/Disney/Marvel deal could resmble that of Paramount and Warner Bros. Interstellar with a hint of the Universal deal. Now here's the imaginary details: Sony agrees to return the Spider-Man film rights to Marvel, but Sony gets to keep either the domestic or foreign distribution rights for Spider-Man films. This lets Marvel Studios use Spider-Man in the cinematic universe and it lets Sony in on some of the profits. This seems like a win-win situation for both parties, but like I said it is the least likely of any choice due to greed from both companies.

So what do you think of these choices? Which do you think is the best and which is the worst? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
About The Author:
yonny616
Member Since 6/12/2013
Just some guy who likes superheroes, movies, video games, wrestling and writing.
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OpticBlastWins
OpticBlastWins - 12/6/2014, 10:30 PM
One word... Spider-Ham.. or is that two
Shootzilla
Shootzilla - 12/6/2014, 10:40 PM
Marvel has the rights to almost all of its characters for video game distribution. Why would they throw away the chance to have a complete Marvel video game universe with all the characters over rights that will probably be up for grabs soon anyway. TQ Jefferson the head of Games at Marvel even said it himself that they are waiting to find the right developer to start a AAA game series revolving around their characters. Also it would take a considerable chunk out of the merchandising money Disney receives from Spider-Man mobile games. I think at this point, if Sony screws up the Sinister Six (if it even gets released), they will drop Spider-Man like a hot potato, and thats when Disney will probably come in with an offer, if they are successful with the Sinister Six and their rumoured female team up movie, then they will ride this Spider-Man boat till the stream runs dry.
NitPicker
NitPicker - 12/6/2014, 11:23 PM
Don't nobody say anything bad about The Amazing Spider-Man movies or @Jollem will give you some sweet shin music.
BawbScharf
BawbScharf - 12/6/2014, 11:43 PM
You know the problem with your first point right? EVERYTHING you are mentioning as a suitable replacement comes from an art form that has NEVER transferred that well to screen. Throwing away Spider Man in hopes that their Vidya franchise rights will do not just well but as good as the current comic properties is a decision that no studio in their right mind would EVER make. Comic movies are gold right now and producing MAJOR blockbusters therefore they are not going to trade in their property in that lucrative genre (for lack of a better word) for adaptations which have not done too well on screen as of late.
DeusExSponge
DeusExSponge - 12/6/2014, 11:50 PM
The only one I can see happening is the third one, and even then that has a very slim chance of happening. For Sony to give up this cash cow would be idiotic and suicidal! They need to rethink their strategy and do something that'll help them in the long run. Stop trying to make a cinematic universe out of Spidey's world and just make standalone films. They need to slowly build the Spiderman film franchise again and leave the director, cast and crew alone!
superherofan21
superherofan21 - 12/6/2014, 11:57 PM
I think the only real solution here is for Sony to share the rights with Marvel Studios. I doubt Sony would be willing to fully get rid of the franchise, so maybe a deal can be worked out where Sony will still make the movies, but a Marvel exec will have some control over what happens in the movie so that it can tie into the MCU. As much as I would love it, I doubt a full Marvel buy-out of Spider-Man is likely, so I think that's the best we're ever going to get.
Nickk
Nickk - 12/7/2014, 12:01 AM
share it
MightyZeus
MightyZeus - 12/7/2014, 12:15 AM
Sony should sell the rights.

If they where to share then Avi Arad would have Spider-man be the primary focus of each MCU film the character stars in.
DeusExSponge
DeusExSponge - 12/7/2014, 12:28 AM
Pending - It might have hit rock bottom, but for it to sell it for some fast cash would be stupid in the long run. Unless they're sure that they have other franchises to live off of, I doubt they'd ever sell Spidey's rights back to Marvel Studios.
TheEpicJuicebox
TheEpicJuicebox - 12/7/2014, 1:07 AM
Plan 4: Cancel it and reboot it in 2019
Peel
Peel - 12/7/2014, 3:14 AM
They should just sell the rights and focus on making movies of their videogames. A Uncharted movie franchise, a Final Fantasy franchise, A Spyro franchise and a Gran Turismo franchise could do well if in the right hands.

Sharing the rights would be a bullet to the foot for Marvel by their own hand. Sure they share the movie rights of Hulk with Universal, but how many Hulk movies have been made since the MCU began? None.
Khanlark
Khanlark - 12/7/2014, 3:37 AM
Whining fans are whining.

To quote Charles Xavier, "Just because someone stumbles and loses their path, doesn't mean they're lost forever." Give Sony a rest, they just might surprise you.
Archangel82
Archangel82 - 12/7/2014, 4:30 AM
Very well written and informative article. I would love to see option 3 put into effect but you are right. The greed from both companies may be the blinding factor in this case. If Sony and Marvel decide to share the Spidey film rights both companies stand to gain a lot from this. To bad corporate executives are to stupid to see this. Well hopefully one day Spiderman will return to Marvel where he rightfully belongs.
AC1
AC1 - 12/7/2014, 5:33 AM
My concern in this ongoing thing isn't Sony, it's Avi Arad. It's clear he's taking control away from the creatives and trying to shoehorn in as much as possible in order to try and turn a profit however he can. Spider-Man 3 and to an extent TASM2 are clear indicators of that. This idea of a shared Spidey universe is ridiculous; a couple spin-offs could be good if they'd concentrate on getting the core series right first, but compromising the integrity of their main franchise (especially after a good effort to reinvigorate the franchise in 2012) in order to set up a number of spin-offs is just plain stupid, and such a waste of potential.

Essentially, they've repeated Marvel's Iron Man 2 fiasco, and made a mediocre movie to set up a wider universe rather than tell its own story - the difference is Marvel had other properties like Thor and Captain America to fall back on and restore their franchise. Sony doesn't have anything to fall back on if they screw up Spider-Man, because all their other characters can't exist without him.
AC1
AC1 - 12/7/2014, 5:40 AM
I mean, don't get me wrong, it's clear as day that Arad is a huge fan of Spider-Man, but I think he needs to have a bit more trust in the creative talent he no doubt had a hand in hiring, and let them do their thing. I get the feeling he feels he has to interject with his own ideas because he wants to see Spider-Man be successful again, but he's doing so by trying to repeat other peoples' formulas. Really, what we need for Spider-Man is for Arad to just support his team, rather than try to change them - if he did, I'm sure he (and we) would be surprised.
CorndogBurglar
CorndogBurglar - 12/7/2014, 7:37 AM
@ the goddamnpeel

So, what? Incredible Hulk doesn't count as being part of the MCU?

The MCU started with Iron Man as soon as Fury showed up and mentioned The Avenger. TIH had Tony Stark show up in it. So they have made a Hulk film since the MCU started.

They haven't made another one because it didn't do very well at the box office and because it got mixed reviews.
Peel
Peel - 12/7/2014, 8:12 AM
@CorndogBurglar

No, I don't count Incredible Hulk as part of the MCU, primarily because Norton's Hulk isn't in the Avengers and no references or connection has been made to that film to the rest of the MCU. As well as that, most of the cast on the Avengers movie kept referring to RDJ as the 'God of the MCU' - that if there was a big scene to be done, he should do it because he spearheaded the MCU.

They're not making another one because they don't want to share the box office money with Universal, and too they're unsure what to do with Hulk's character outside of the Avengers movies.
Peel
Peel - 12/7/2014, 9:18 AM
Huh. Well I'll be damned.

Still, until Marvel gain back full rights of the Hulk, I can't see them making another solo Hulk movie.
CorndogBurglar
CorndogBurglar - 12/7/2014, 11:25 AM
@ thegoddamnpeel

Mexicansuperman pretty much sums it up. The MCU has referenced things from The Incredible Hulk quite a lot. There's no question that it is part of the MCU.

But even if you missed all those references, its beyond me how you or anyone else could have missed DID show up as Tony Stark in it. It wasn't even an after credits scene. It was in the actual movie.
CorndogBurglar
CorndogBurglar - 12/7/2014, 11:26 AM
DID=RDJ. goddamn spell check.
Wolf38
Wolf38 - 12/7/2014, 1:06 PM
As a fan, I would of course like Marvel Studios to get all its properties back.

If I am in charge at Sony, I bring in good people and make better Spider-Man films, and don't even consider selling.

Realistically, neither of those seems too likely. Feels like a war of attrition and diminishing returns...
Nick56
Nick56 - 12/7/2014, 2:21 PM
Or sony can get their shit together and hire people who know what the [frick] they are doing.

Unlike X-Men I wouldn't mind seeing Spidey heading to Disney (and that says a lot cause I dislike Disney's methods and products) but I really don't want to see him exist with the other heroes, I like him relatively isolated from the rest
staypuffed
staypuffed - 12/7/2014, 3:20 PM
@Ipitythefool
"Marvel should just make a Spider-man Netflix show,"

That is an awesome idea.
UltimateCookie
UltimateCookie - 12/7/2014, 4:22 PM
Im hoping for a Spiderwoman movie. Jessica Drew could make for a cool movie.
TucksFrom2015
TucksFrom2015 - 12/7/2014, 8:31 PM
option 1: make a good Sinister Six movie

option 2: make a good 3rd Spider-Man movie

option 3: make a good Venom spin-off movie

I'm afraid those are the only options, friend. all of the above would be nice
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