Sequels Spider-man Rights reverting back to Marvel Studios

[Jordanstine]

Lost in the Spider-man exiting the MCU debacle is another story possibly much bigger than the Disney vs Sony debacle.

It’s been known for a while now that parent company Sony Japan has been looking at the right time to sell off its Film and TV division. Industry experts believe that Sony Pictures will inevitably be sold within the next couple years.

There was even news just a few months ago that Apple maybe looking into purchasing Sony Pictures.

Is Apple Going to Buy a Movie Studio?

Then this Forbes article came along and pointed something very interesting:

It's no secret that Sony Pictures is likely to wind up bought by another company at some point in the next couple of years, for all of the reasons the much larger and more successful 20th Century Fox did the math and realized they couldn't compete longterm in a marketplace requiring a larger stable of branded IP, global multimedia footprint, and marketing power than Fox had, relative to more financially successful and IP-laden studios. If and when Sony winds up in a merger with a company like Netflix, Amazon, or Apple, the Spider-Man IP will revert back to Marvel — and it's unlikely anyone currently involved with the IP at Sony will get a dime when that happens.

...

All of that said, though, if in fact a deal isn't reached, then one of two things will still happen. The first possible outcome is this: Sony makes their solo movies and it all works out fine for them, which leads to another studio stepping in to acquire Sony before the buying price goes up too much (as it would if the solo films continue being billion dollar earners while the spinoffs are likewise blockbusters, even though the IP won't transfer in a sale), and then the Spider-Man rights revert back to Marvel.

The second possible outcome is this: Sony makes their solo movies and it all goes badly, the studio spends more and more money on them while the box office diminishes (again), the spinoffs aren't as big of hits as hoped, the IP becomes a mess (again), and Sony's value drops until another company acquires them when the price is relatively cheap (to get their back library of content for a streaming service like Netflix, Amazon, or Apple), and then the Spider-Man rights revert back to Marvel.

How The Marvel-Sony 'Spider-Man' Dispute Will Be Solved One Way Or Another [Updated]

In other words, Sony had much more to lose for the Spider-man/MCU negotiations falling through.

Sony needs to make as much money off of Spider-man and his friends IPs as soon as possible, because their window to do so is shrinking.

Disney on the other hand, can just take their time. With Endgame coming to past just this year, Marvel likely won’t be making another big team-up Avengers type move anytime soon to include Spider-man in. It took 4 years of buildup after Iron Man to get to the Avengers; this could likely be the same plan at the start of Phase 4. Marvel’s movie slate seems to be full all the way through 2023, so the earliest team-up Marvel movie won’t happen until 2024 the earliest.

Between now and 2024, if what industry insiders are saying is correct, there’s a very good chance Sony Pictures will have been sold off in that time frame, resulting in Disney acquiring back the Spider-man and his friends license while they’ve used that time building up their new IPs from Eternals to the Fantastic Four and the X-Men, just right on time for the next big team-up movie to call for Spider-man back.

Based on the latest Deadline report, this might be one of the reasons why Disney, likely tired of dealing with Sony’s new head, Tom Rothman for the last half year, was not worried about pulling negotiations off the table when they couldn’t agree to the initial 25% that Disney offered about 6 months ago. They actually have the time and the slate to wait it out, whilst Sony... not so much.

‘Spider-Man’ Skirmish Sony & Disney tug of war over Helmer Jon Watts – Deadline

With that said, I hope both companys are able to still get a deal before all this has to come to past. It’s a win-win for all involved if that happens.

 

[MahvelBaby!]

What would Sony even be worth as a movie studio without spider-man? Who would want that line up of trash? Lol

 

[Silvermoth]

Mahvelbaby has a good point. Their next biggest franchise is James Bond and he’s simply never going to consistently match spidey’s box office

 

[NHawk19]

If this is truly and likely scenario, Rothman is incredibly short sighted, or he's just looking to hold on long enough to get a golden parachute and get out, which makes him an *******.

Lets timeline this a little The next SM movie would be in 2-3 years. Say May 2022. SM would/could still be in HS because real time still hasn't caught up with MCU time since everyone returns in 2023.

I suppose the question is when do they loose the rights though? At the start of the sale I'd imagine it's all frozen. Meaning if something Spidey related is in motion it can continue, but nothing new can go forward. That freeze could come in 2022/2023. Even if Sony gets one out before the anticipated 2024 sale, Marvel only has to deal with one MCU adjacent movie, also assuming Venom or Morbious isn't in it. Again depending on the content of that movie it might not be that bad of a strategy. Then Marvel can possibly just start fresh in with a collegiate Peter Parker, and they have several options to move forward. It also means the potential joint character issue goes away. Michelle & Ned don't have to go to college. That leaves just Aunt May as an outlier of jointly developed characters potentially.

 

[MahvelBaby!]

Mahvelbaby has a good point. Their next biggest franchise is James Bond and he’s simply never going to consistently match spidey’s box office

Actually they don't even have James Bond anymore

Jumanji!!!! LMAO

 

[Frodo]

Sony losing the rights to Spiderman is fan wishful thinking at this point.

Bottom line , Disney is just gonna have to try to buy it from Sony outright and make them an offer they can't and won't refuse.

 

[MahvelBaby!]

#keephopealive

 

[Smurphftw]

Actually they don't even have James Bond anymore

Jumanji!!!! LMAO

They are going to try Ghostbusters again, but this time it will be a Force Awakens style soft reboot. They've run Men In Black into the ground. I can't really think of anything else. It seems like they botch every good IP they get their hands on.

 

[Silvermoth]

Oh well, I suppose if they run spiderman into the ground it’ll make it easier for Disney to buy the rights back

 

[Herofan]

^The only reason TASM2 wasn't considered a success was because its budget was too big, Sony could have just reduced the budget for the next one. Sony made the deal and left the deal both based on greed.

 

[Zarex]

^The only reason TASM2 wasn't considered a success was because its budget was too big, Sony could have just reduced the budget for the next one. Sony made the deal and left the deal both based on greed.

The other problem was that TASM2 got a very poor reception by both critics and audiences, which caused an enormous drop off in the domestic BO from the first film in the series. The folks at Sony knew that the third installment was at a strong risk of cratering unless they did something desperate.

 

[JohnSuperguy]

What if Apple buys Sony that would be a Great Idea so Sony can give back all of the Spider-Man Rights back to Marvel.

 

[Detective Conan]

What if Apple buys Sony that would be a Great Idea so Sony can give back all of the Spider-Man Rights back to Marvel.

Don’t get your hopes for that to happen even if Sony is bought. There’s no evidence that the license isn’t transferable outside some hearsay and conjecture. If memory serves, evidence was posted on another thread that points to the contract being transferrable. I think it was someone who posted that Sony’s 2011 contract was indeed transferable. So even if Sony gets bought by Apple that doesn’t meant the rights go back to them. Instead Sony’s rights to Spider-Man transfer to Apple.

 

[Yellow Cyclone]

there was a forbes article on this, and i believe it's been a standard industry practice over the years, long before the we were even in phase 2 of the mcu, people were thinking of fox being bought out/selling their division and f4/x-rights going back to marvel

sony may sell it's movie division if it gets a big enough offer from a FAANG company. every other major studio in hollywood has merged/been bought over the past decade. sony is the last one standing, they all have to compete with FAANG companies in the digital streaming age, as big as hollywood companies are, people don't realize how much capital a silicon valley tech company really does have

 

[RetrogradeOrbit]

Came across this, personally I don’t believe a word of it, but thought I’d share nevertheless...

Disney Reportedly Planning To Buy Spider-Man Back From Sony

 

[psylockolussus]

What would Sony even be worth as a movie studio without spider-man? Who would want that line up of trash? Lol

I think Apple could use their tv / film library for their streaming service. Sony Pictures isn't Disney or Fox, but their film/tv catalogue won't be useless if bought by another company especially Apple who doesnthave thousands of film / tv episodes under their belt.

 

[OtherwiseKnownAs]

 

[Frodo]

Came across this, personally I don’t believe a word of it, but thought I’d share nevertheless...

Disney Reportedly Planning To Buy Spider-Man Back From Sony

Yeah, I don't buy it, though I would love for it to happen. Its a much more realistic and viable solution than the fanboy fantasy of Spiderman 3 failing so Sony will have to beg Disney to make a new deal.

I think Disney will eventually try to buy the rights , but I don't see it happening anytime soon.

 

[RetrogradeOrbit]

Breaking: Kevin Feige & Marvel WILL Produce Next Spider-Man Movie!

 

[RetrogradeOrbit]

Direct article...

Spider-Man Will Stay in the Marvel Cinematic Universe

 

[Enriquespy]

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT

 

[MovieSlave]

Great news!!

 

[Random490]

Damn Sony, why did you have to give me a month long heart attack? I've spent so much time thinking about how they could get a deal back together, wondering what are the chances they could be bought by Apple or Amazon before the next film enters production. Just for them to make a deal out of nowhere.

Really, keeping Spidey in the MCU is the smartest play for Sony. Not that taking him out and making you're own universe is bad ideal, just premature. Right now the "Sonyverse" in an unknown, it could be successful or a failure. They only have one film to judge on that did pretty well but not amazing. It's smarter to see how the audience reacts to a few other characters before rushing into a full blown cinematic universe. Rushing in is the mistake every studio who has tried it made. If I were them, I'd do whatever Marvel wanted under the condition that Spider-man can appear in their Sonyverse, build that up while Spidey runs his course in the MCU. Then when you know it's self sustainable and has it's own momentum, then break it off.

I still hold on hope that a Sony buyout can happen and the rights revert. Having this Film guarantee actually really adds to my hopes. I can see Apple or Amazon thinking of buying the studio before the film is released to be able to capitalize on the profits from the rights since you won't be able to do anything in the future. Like how Dark Phoenix's profits, or lack thereof, effected Disney's bottom line the same can be true of whoever buys Sony Pictures. At the very least is gives more time for this dream to happen before Sony screws it up.

Though no matter what happens I'm glad we got one more film, I would have hated for his MCU tenure to end on that cliffhanger.

 

[Enriquespy]

The deal was always going to happen. The ordeal were just bluffs and calling on bluffs. If anything, the whole mess just hyped up the next film even more.

 

[Webfoot Hero]

The deal was always going to happen. The ordeal were just bluffs and calling on bluffs. If anything, the whole mess just hyped up the next film even more.

I'm still thinking that it's no coincidence that the deal got announced shortly before the Blu-ray/DVD release next week.