Deadline has reported that due to disagreements surrounding a co-financing re-negotiation between Marvel Studios and Sony, the current collaborative deal over the production of the recent Tom Holland featuring Spider-Man movies set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) have come to a standstill.
While previous agreements reported that Marvel Studios’ and Sony’s continued partnership hinged on Spider-Man: Far From Home hitting the billion dollar milestone in cinemas, a milestone it easily achieved, attempts at re-negotiating Marvel’s profit margins seem to have caused and averse reaction.
Unfortunately, Marvel Studios attempt of gaining a larger cut of the Spider-Man pie, as well as trying to include the larger stable of Spider-Man characters, including the likes of Venom, seems to have caused this backlash.
A reprieve from the conflicting opinions of Sony’s treatment of the character in previous, Marvel-less franchises, this unique partnership forged in 2015, between Marvel Studios and Sony was a groundbreaking manoeuvre allowing the fan-favourite character to appear in the seminal MCU.
Debuting in the memorable airport sequences of 2016’s Captain America: Civil War, the newly cast Tom Holland quickly endeared himself to fans with his accurate take on the character as well as his easy chemistry with MCU forebears such as Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans. The character has since gone on to play a pivotal role in the culmination of the MCU‘s Infinity Saga.
News of this split follow recent rumours–and subsequent confirmation–of yet another two Spider-Man films being in active development with director Jon Watts still overseeing the project and Tom Holland continuing to portray the webslinger.
While the future of both Spider-Man and the MCU remain unknown, Sony’s long-term plans for a peripheral Spider-Man Universe, led by the Tom Hardy starring Venom, may be taking shape now.
While the situation could probably be salvaged, it will probably be at the greater cost of Marvel’s than Sony. With demand for the character at an all time high, as well as the potential for his own universe sans the likes of the now expired Iron Man and Captain America, Sony has much more to gain with the possibility of a solo venture.
At the end of it all though, it may be the fans that are hurt the most.