Pretty great twitter thread there.
This seems almost too monumentally stupid to actually happen.
Remember when we thought this was the dumbest Spidey news we'd read all day
I do too
Everyone out here slamming Sony as if they didn't just have wild success with Spider-Verse (critical and financial) and Venom (financial, at least). The Raimi trilogy was a big hit. The two Marc Webb movies were misfires but Sony has had way more success with the property than they're being credited for. Not to mention they're part of the two MCU movies as well so they deserve a little credit there too.
Can't blame them for telling Disney to walk when Disney wants half the pot. Screw that. Selling film rights to Spider-Man, X-Men and Fantastic Four is what kept Marvel alive back before they were doing movies of their own. Sony has the leverage here.
(I suspect they will come to some agreement).
I don’t really think Sony has the leverage. Disney & the MCU is just fine without Spider-Man. Not saying Disney has all the leverage either.
What a gut punch for Mississauga’s own.
I don’t really think Sony has the leverage. Disney & the MCU is just fine without Spider-Man. Not saying Disney has all the leverage either.
Money will talk in the end. I'm sure Disney isn't dumb enough to even take a small (and i say small because the MCU has been money on all fronts) risk with damaging their big cash cow, especially with the beating Star Wars has taken in the eyes of people.
This is pretty much a lose-lose-lose situation for Sony, Disney and the fans. I honestly think going from the 5% share for Disney to 50% share in profits seems ridiculous. I don't know if that's true, but it's pretty ridiculous of Disney to ask for that much of a hike. Why would they make that deal now? Sony agreed to the original 5% share while being nearly bankrupt. Sony is in the position of strength but everyone losses if they don't renew the deal.
My understanding of the current deal is that Disney gets 5% of first dollar gross, meaning their cut is directly off the total ticket sales, not the profit (ie after expenses are deducted).
Sony has profited more directly from these films (see deadline.com estimates here). But, you can argue that the introduction of Spiderman pushed the MCU into a higher tier. That final Spiderman scene in Endgame for example was potentially the biggest emotional punch from the entirety of the films, and probably added significantly to Infinity Wars total.
That said, Marvel is making a fortune on every film they put out. A 5% cut is nice with zero risk and zero capital investment, but, I think they also likely view every Spiderman film as a point on their calendar that they could replace with ones of their fully owned franchises and turn a bigger profit.
I can see both sides on this. The one thing that surprises me though is that there hasn't been a solution involving streaming rights. In the great streaming wars that is just getting started, I'd think Disney would gladly keep a smaller share if they could throw all Spiderman film rights controlled by Sony, and have them appear on Dosney+.
Another thing Disney does get is all $$ from Spider-Man related merchandise that Sony does not get. Though I would think any profit from merch sales is small compared to the box office money.
I'm glad that Spidey is leaving. The quality of the MCU has gone down since GotG 2 and Endgame. Although Thor and Shang-Chi will be good, DC is the future for quality hero films.