Sony Reportedly Ends Marvel Studios’ Involvement In Spider-Man Films

Well, this is going to go over well. Sony Pictures has reportedly ended Marvel Studios and Kevin Feige’s involvement in its Spider-Man films over their co-financing negotiations. Deadline reports that Sony has cut Marvel Studios head Feige as well as Marvel as a whole out of involvement in future films.

Sony owns the film rights to Spider-Man as part of a deal that went back to the late 1990s. After the relative failure of the Amazing Spider-Man run starring Andrew Garfield, the studio agreed to co-produce the films with Marvel in a deal that saw Peter Parker enter the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That deal gave Marvel 5% of first dollar gross and merchandising rights. In doing so, Spider-Man: Homecoming became a huge hit and, buoyed by Spidey’s involvement in the Avengers films, Spider-Man: Far From Home has grossed over $1 billion and become Sony’s biggest hit in its history.

That success appears to be part of the problem. The two studios have been negotiating for future films over the past few months, and Disney asked that future films give Disney and Sony a 50/50 co-financing arrangement. According to the site, Sony balked and didn’t even come back to the negotiating table to talk compromise. They wished to continue the current 5% plus merchandising deal, which Disney had rejected.

The development is going to have a wide impact on where Sony’s properties go from here. The site says two more Spider-Man films are currently in the works with director Jon Watts and star Tom Holland attached to return. In addition, Feige and Sony Pictures head Tom Rothman had discussed the possibility of wider involvement in Sony’s Spider-Man universe which includes Venom and its upcoming sequel, as well as the upcoming Morbius and Kraven The Hunter. Feige had some involvement in Venom, which was a hit for Sony, and has done a remarkable job putting the MCU together with 23 films and zero bombs. Even creatively, the worst critic score that any MCU has is a a 67% consensus on Rotten Tomatoes (Incredible Hulk). He also helped bring superhero films to the Oscar table for the first time with Black Panther.

All that said, Sony reportedly feels like they will be fine without Feige and Marvel, and it sounds as if the current continuity in the solo films will continue. How that will affect the film’s MCU setting is yet to be seen. There is, of course, always the chance that Marvel and Sony end up hammering out a deal after all. After all, the next Spider-Man hasn’t been written yet. But the site states that this would need to have “something dramatic happen” for this to be the case.

Marvel will have plenty to do if this sticks and they do lose access to Spidey anyway, with the newly-acquired Fantastic Four and X-Men waiting in the wings for their MCU debut and a host of Phase 4 films and Disney+ shows that were announced at San Diego Comic-Con.