When The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was released in 2014, Sony Pictures had plans for at least two more solo movies starring Andrew Garfield. Sinister Six and Venom spin-offs were also planned, with Spider-Man set to appear in the former as a reluctant member of the team.
The sequel wasn't the $1 billion hit that Sony expected, so when the Sony Hack made fans aware of discussions between the studio about a partnership with Marvel Studios, a game-changing decision was made.
Sony would allow Kevin Feige to take creative control of the wall-crawler, starting with his official MCU debut in 2016's Captain America: Civil War. Tom Holland replaced Garfield, and Peter Parker later starred in his own hugely successful trilogy. Sony kept the lion's share of box office profits, but Marvel Studios benefited from merchandise and Spidey's appearances in the Avengers movies.
Talking on The Town with Matt Belloni, Sony Pictures CEO Tom Rothman reflected on the $1.9 billion success of Spider-Man: No Way Home in 2021 and admitted that it "pisses me off" to see the movie fall short of $2 billion. Why? Because it wasn't released in China.
Calling the partnership with Marvel a "win-win deal," he explained, "In my mind, it's over $2 billion because I know what we would have done in China. They said, 'Just cut out the Statue of Liberty,' which was the request. That was the request."
That was impossible because the entire final battle takes place at the New York landmark, and Rothman joked, "I really didn't look forward to standing up in front of Congress, telling them why I cut the Statue of Liberty out at the request of the Chinese Communist Party. So, it's been a really, really it's been a great partnership, and I have to say it's because they've been great partners."
When Belloni put it to him that the Statue of Liberty likely won't appear in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, he replied, "Actually, coincidentally, that's true." So, expect Spidey to swing back into the Middle Kingdom this summer.
Elsewhere in the conversation, Rothman disputed that The Amazing Spider-Man 2 had run the franchise into the ground, because "it's a $800 million movie." He added, "I think again this was a question of opportunity, because yes, first of all, Marvel's great. Kevin Feige's a genius. It wasn't just bringing Marvel in to produce for us. We were able to introduce the new Spider-Man with Robert Downey Jr. and Iron Man."
While there was a time when it looked like the Sony/Marvel deal had ended following Spider-Man: Far From Home's release, the two sides reconciled, and all signs point to the partnership continuing well beyond Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
That movie will be released in theaters on July 31, 2026.