“Let us come in and help…”
I held off on this because it first started popping up on all the usual clickbait sites. But then Entertainment Weekly chimed in – and that’s why we’re putting it up now.
Speculation has been rampant regarding the direction of Sony’s flailing Spider-Franchise. Many of us have wished that Disney could get the film rights to Spider-Man back (and God willing the Fantastic Four as well, because damn). But Sony is loathe to let go on one of the few moneymakers they have, even if that moneymaker is starting to look like damaged goods.
It’s no secret that Amazing Spider-Man 2 was a disappointment for Sony. It fell short of the desired mark by about $300 million or so, and it continued the downward Box Office trend that started with the first Spider-Reboot film. But according to EW, cash-strapped Sony is moving ahead with its announced Sinister Six film.
But what if the Sinister Six also disappoints, and diminishing returns continue to plague Sony’s Spider-Franchise?
EW looks at some scenarios and gives a bit more meat to these rumors, though again it’s still speculation:
This is why no one should expect any deal-making to happen soon. Sony wants to keep its character, and Marvel has plenty of other characters to occupy its schedule. But it was the success of 2002’s Spider-Man (and Bryan Singer’s 2000 blockbuster X-Men), that made the comic book company realize it might want to stop licensing its heroes and start making movies on its own. Sony already traded back most of the revenue on toys and other merchandise for the webslinger, and Marvel could easily kick in financing for a Sony film if it meant getting its character back for cameos or supporting roles in ensembles like the Avengers movies. But time is on both studios’ sides: If Sony bungles Sinister Six, Marvel is in a much stronger position to say, “Let us come in and help.” That’s where a sharing partnership could come about. Or Sinister Six could crash so badly, and Spidey could become such damaged goods, that Sony simply surrenders the rights as other studios have with less-iconic properties. Marvel gets what it wants in both scenarios. The only way it loses is if Sony wins big with its next installment.
EW continues…
The point is, this is a long-ball game. Titanic corporations are in a tug ‘o war over this character, and solid developments will take a long time to play out. A few tentative notes have passed between them, yes. That much is certain. But with great box-office power comes great intractability.
Again, everything is speculation. Nothing is set in stone. But if the Spider-Franchise continues its downward trend, Sony may be “examining all options.”
–George Berryman!
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Well with Avengers 3 sounding like it’s going be Civil War. It makes since to have Spider-man in it, cause he was the tired main hero in the civil war comic. have Tony appear in the end Sinister 6 and asks Peter to join his team Peter wanting to be an Avenger agrees. then in Avengers 3: Civil War. Peter finds out that joining team Tony means unmasking and with Aunt may’s approval cause she knows the secret, he does the unmasking. he joins cap side later in the movie, and Amazing Spider-man 3 is OMIT
@14 – I don’t trust Marvel with Spidey anymore than I do Sony when it comes to character direction. Make no mistake; Quesada still has input as CCO and assists Feige. We would definitely get Quesada’s skewed version of Spider-Man. We could even possibly get Carlie Cooper pushed on us in a Marvel Spidey film.
BUT!
The quality of the movies would be stronger. Hands down. What passed for “writing” in ASM2 would never have flown with Disney Marvel. Neither would that horrible depiction of Electro.
Knowing how Marvel has handled Spidey in the comics, how do we know they’ll handle him correctly in the movies?
Could be, Spideymaddox. Could be! I do think though that it would have to be a combination of a rebooted GB doing well and the Spider-Franchise limping on with diminishing returns.
if the Ghostbusters reboot that was announced today does well then sony will have rvived one of their dormant money franchises and would be more willing to let Spider-man return to Marvel.
And RE Claremont’s comments, that seems REALLY shakey, cause, well, the X-books are still steadily making new minor characters. I’m almost wondering if Claremont wanted to try at a new big A-List character that Marvel just didn’t want. (His recent efforts also must be stated as being… iffy, at best
Honestly, I think even if FF crashes, Fox will try to keep that franchise with tooth and nail, if only cause that keeps the F4, Silver Surfer, Galactus and Dr Doom (among others) out of Marvel, which basically makes them expensive hostages. Basically it’s like the Imagine Generic version of Fantastic Four from Arrested Development. This is ALL about keeping control of the liscence
@#5-Yeah but the story (as I understand it) isn’t so much that they’re unhappy with the movie so much as they’re angry about the rights. And, frankly ending a historic and beloved title so as to not promote a movie which seems like it’s going to have little in common with the comic anyway seems foolish. I mean if anything the movie generates promotion for the comic not the other way around. The minority of newcomers will start reading F4 and then in a few months think to check out the film. The way it sounds is that Pearlmutter alone is bitter about this and is cutting his nose to spite his face, but he can’t do that with X-Men or Spider-Man because they’re too popular.
@#6-I think for the same reasons you gave though, saying Whedon would do a good job based upon very little to go by is a bit shortsighted, especially to compare him to one of the all time greats.
Frankly I don’t want Spider-Man on the Avengers at all, he doesn’t work well on teams.
@7 – I have to agree with on not wanting to see Spidey on the Avengers or a solo MCU Spider-Man movie. I just recently re-watched all of the currently released Marvel Studios films and realized that IM1, Avengers, Winter Soldier and GOTG are the only MCU movies that I really think are outstanding. The other 6 movies are just aright (apart from The Dark World, I hated The Dark World).
As someone who enjoyed most aspects of the Raimi and Webb franchises, I wouldn’t mind if Sony kept the rights. But I think Sony really need to drop all the silly spin-off ideas and just put out a great Spider-Man movie.
If Marvel to got the rights back, I’d be more interested if they went the Daredevil route and gave Spidey a TV series.
As weak of a follow up as ASM2 was, I’d rather see Sony try again and learn from their mistakes than have them collaborate with Marvel or return the rights.
I don’t want to see Spider-Man on the Avengers. I hate it when he’s on the team in the comics, and I think it would spoil both him and the Avengers to have him there in the movies.
And I don’t think I really trust Marvel to make a Spidey movie I’d appreciate right now, either, despite how great their film track record has been. They’d ham him up to a degree I wouldn’t be able to stand.
@xonathan.
Rather unfair to judge and ASSume how Whedon would portray the wallcrawler from a few pages in an issue where the Avengers, FF & all the other NYC-based heroes were literally reduced to drooling idiots. Joss has always nailed his characterizations, whereas Bendis wass notorious for having characters all sound like each other during his Avengers tenure & and 616 Spidey sound like a buffoon. If anything, Joss’ Spider-Man is more akin to Roger Stern’s.
@3 – I don’t “hope” the Sinister Six fails so much as I’ve assumed it will. Sony doesn’t know what to do with the Spider-franchise now and they are spending a ton of money for diminishing returns.
Oh, and…
@4 – In fairness to Marvel (am I actually saying that?) I can see why they’d pull FF comics over that upcoming Josh Trank trainwreck. Disney Marvel can’t be happy with how that brand’s being handled by Fox. Not at all.
Would I pull it myself? Probably not. I’d probably reset it back to what actually made it great in the first place instead of having each new writer try to reinvent the damn wheel. I’d also be quite vocal about how Fox’s FF bungling displeased the parent company.
But I do see why they’re doing it and I can’t condemn them for it.
@#1-That isn’t a consideration it’s actually happened. FF will end soonish because Ike Pearlmutter is a bitter and petty child
Now people are hoping Sinister Six fails? For the greater good? (“…the greater good…”)
That’s kind of depressing for those of us who are actually looking forward to that film.
X-men will never return as it’s making decent money. FF we’ll see, I sure hope so as their next installment looks like a disaster. Sony and Marvel have a more amicable agreement, so a collaboration could happen. Personally, I could care less if Spidey appears in the Avengers, (Whedon’s Spidey is basically like Bendis’ where he is the goofy comic relief sidekick. See Astonishing X-men #25), I really want well-written Spider-man movies.
I read a similar article today but on a different site than EW.com, it also discussed how Marvel wants the X-Men and Fantastic Four movies back to. It quotes a podcast Chris Claremont was on where he said that it’s a Marvel rule that the X-Men books cannot create any new characters because they would automatically fall under the ownership rights of Fox as far as the movies are concerned.
The article also said Marvel is considering cancelling FF because (a) of sales, and (b) so that there would not be a FF book on the stands when the new movie comes out.