Just last week, we learned that Tom Holland had completed his contract for Disney/Marvel Studios and that he was only contracted to appear in one more solo ‘Spider-Man’ movie for Sony. Of course, that movie, like ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ and ‘Far From Home’ would be a joint venture with Disney/Marvel and would connect to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But now comes another ominous update. It seems that there is a stipulation in the agreement between Sony and Disney that if ‘Far From Home’ doesn’t make a billion dollars, Marvel is out and Sony takes back full ownership of Peter Parker and all related characters.
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This information comes via Richard Rushfield and his entertainment industry newsletter The Ankler:
“The Marvel universe dodged a bullet here. The original Sony/Marvel/Spidey deal to co-produce these movies stipulated that if this Spidey cleared a billion, Marvel would get to oversee a third. If it hadn’t, full control would have reverted back to Sony, which raised the specter that America’s Most Beloved Entertainment Executive [NOTE: Sony CEO Tony Vinciquerra?] would look to cash in/out every way possible, as well as grab complete unexpurgated credit for the victory and thrown superhero canon to the wind. (Not something he was ever a fan of in the first place). It was feared he would have tossed Spidey and Venom together for a quickie mash-up that very potentially could’ve sunk both.”
Richfield is obviously being sarcastic and I am not sure that he is referring to Vinciquerra, but he’s certainly not talking about Amy Pascal, Sony’s chairperson and producer, who has been hands-on with the ‘Spider-Man’ franchise, and concerned with working with Disney/Marvel in getting it back on track.
So should ‘Far From Home’ not make $1 billion, Marvel would not be involved with the third flick in this series, but Sony could get their Spider-Man/Venom crossover they’ve been hoping for, and they could use Spider-Man to help their upcoming movies like ‘Morbius’, starring Jared Leto, ‘Kraven’, ‘Silver Sable’, ‘Black Cat’ and whatever else they have in the planning stages.
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As I said when discussing Tom Holland’s contract, Sony may very well be ready to part ways with Disney, if they perceive their ‘Spider-Man’ brand to be “fixed” and strong enough to soar without Marvel’s involvement. After all, ‘Venom’ did remarkably well for a movie that got really terrible reviews, and ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’ was possibly the most acclaimed ‘Spidey’ movie ever. Disney/Marvel had no involvement with either.
But ‘Far From Home’ has already made more than half-a-billion dollars, and it’s only been out for like a week and a half globally. So it WILL make $1 billion.
But as it stands, unless there’s more info that we don’t know about, there may only be one more Sony/Marvel ‘Spidey’ solo outing. At that point, Holland’s contract is fulfilled. He can sign a new contract, but it is not known if Sony will sign another contract to share the character with Disney/Marvel.
Hopefully, good news will emerge at San Diego Comic-Con next week.
Would you still want to see more Tom Holland ‘Spider-Man’ movies if they were detached from Disney/Marvel’s Cinematic Universe?
