There have been some interesting developments in this recent week regarding the relationship between Sony and Spiderman. On the video game side (the excuse I have for writing this article) we have the recent acquisition of Insomniac games by Sony. Real shocker, that one. Insomniac games have been playing exclusively in Sony's backyard for so many years that I literally haven't played one of their games since Crash Bandicoot, because I can't. The signing of this deal just seems like formality at this point, like being adopted by people who are already your guardians, your response is just "Oh, surprised that hasn't already happened yet." I guess this means for people who lack the disposable income to buy a new console, (A la moi) we never will get to see an Insomniac game. (Great. I love exclusivity. Don't you?) Guess this means we're getting a Spiderman 2. (Which will again be PlayStation exclusive.) But hey, I'm happy for them or whatever...
But that was the real big Spiderman news of the week I think. Nothing else happened that is noteworthy in the slightest, or at least, nothing in the world of gaming. Look, I mentioned games, okay, I made my link; so I have free reign to delve into the recent MCU news and no one can complain. (That's the rule.) So there was a little bit of a development between Disney and Spiderman when Sony haphazardly cut Tom Holland's wall-crawler from the rest of the cinematic universe in spectacular fashion, that's something noteworthy, right?
I may not be the biggest movie buff around (Or even a movie buff at all for that matter.) but I do branch out and watch a few things here and there. One series I try to keep on top of is the Marvel Cinematic Universe for no more reason than the fact that I used to be a huge fan of comics back when I was a kid. (Oh god, did I say "Back when I was a kid" unironically? Existential dread time.) I have been surprised how most of the movies have managed to be rather good (The less said about Thor: The Dark World, the better) and the Spiderman Movies have been no exception. I've enjoyed every Spiderman film to some degree, but these recent ones genuinely have me interested to see where the character can be taken next; They managed to portray Peter Parker in a wholly unique light that no other adaptation had touched on before. I wanted to see where that would go.
Then along comes the money men to have a little dust-up in the boardroom and tear down everything that people were excited for. Artistic integrity be damned, this thing is going down because of some asinine dispute about 'cuts'. Go online and you'll find a bevy of articles and YouTube videos trying to figure just what the heck happened and picking a side between Marvel's greedy demands and Sony's pigheaded refusals. It is no great insight on my part to affirm that everyone is an idiot in this scenario and unfit to be running the most profitable endeavour in Hollywood. Now here we are, with our MCU family torn apart, supposedly irrevocably, and there is nothing we can do except wait for cooler heads to try and prevail. (Fingers crossed.)
"But how can Sony have the right to take a Marvel character away from Marvel?" you may ask, well it all goes back to the 90's. (Like all stupid things in this world do.) Marvel had just finished dragging themselves out of bankruptcy in 1998 and managed to liquidate some it's movie license by throwing them around to interested studios. This is how the Fantastic 4 and the X-men ended up with FOX, how Spiderman and his kin ended up with Sony and how Prince Namor ended up with... Paramount? Really? Since then Sony have capitalized on Spiderman's popularity to bring us 2 origin stories, 2 Gwen Stacy's, 3 green goblin's, 3 Aunt May's and 7 Spiderman starring movies.
After the flop of 'The Amazing Spiderman 2', during which Sony had hoped to set up their own Spiderman cinematic universe, Amy Pascal (Chairperson at Sony Entertainment) brokered a deal with Disney to share their products. Disney was on top of the world with Superhero movies at this point and everyone wanted to jump into bed with them, but Sony knew that Marvel would be willing to share the mattress if Spiderman was in discussion. And so a 'transaction' was made, in the words of Bob Iger during his earnings call for that year; Disney would be granted use of the character with rights to merchandising, and in return Sony would be permitted to make their own movies with that same character and keep a majority of the box office. If Spiderman were to appear as supporting cast in an Avengers movie, then the money would go to Disney, but if Spiderman is in top billing, then Sony pockets most of it whilst Marvel simply lends their creative talent, marketing, and name recognition. A good deal if you ask me.
During this time, Disney and Sony made 'super-villain' amounts of money together. Tom Holland's take on Spiderman seemed to resonate with almost everyone in 'Civil War', and 'Spiderman: Homecoming' proved to be grounded enough for viewers to relate with the hero; signalling him out in a lineup that can seem impenetrable. The joy didn't just spread to fan reception either, like I said, these movies made a mark in the box office. Homecoming earned just short of a billion, and Far From Home sailed past the billion-mark and quickly became Sony's most profitable movie of all time. (And the first Sony movie to cross into the billion-realm since 2012's Skyfall. Sony haven't been doing so good in the film department lately.)
Everything seemed good for a time. Too good. Hence it was inevitable that someone had to rock up and ruin it all on purpose. (Okay, maybe not on purpose, but greed always begets misery.) Marvel showed up at Sony's door months after 'Far From Home's success with an unwelcome revision to the original plan. Instead of Disney being granted a take of first-dollar gross (A percentage payday that isn't effected by the movies' lifetime performance), they wanted a 50/50 co-financing split with Sony. Marvel and Sony would pay for the movies together and take home equal splits. (Although some reports claim that this figure was actually 30/70. Bare in mind we're working with several of-hand account so nothing is plain fact.) Sony were happy with the way things were (Making a ludicrous amount of money with cursory effort on their part) and so turned that deal down. Discussions were had, threats were made and, ultimately, Sony took their toys and went home.
This is when the Internet proceeded to explode. Days away from Disney's D23 convention, Spiderman is gone from the vastly successful MCU. Fans were enraged with all this nonsense and just wanted Spiderman back with his superhero family. Sony were the first one's to respond, detailing their sadness at being able to come to terms with Marvel and their willingness to negotiate. Everyone saw through the powerplay of pulling Spiderman and they certainly saw through the sympathy plea on Twitter. Public discourse turned even further against them and Sony found themselves in a PR nightmare.
I should say, however, that I do understand and appreciate where Sony are coming from in their decision. They are, at the end of the day, a business; one that is hyper focused in making as much money as humanly possible now, rather than securing their future down the line. When Marvel seeks to take away their potential profits in return for helping to ensure that their company remains financially viable, the stupid part of me can understand the desire to lash out and jump into the abyss. Afterall, Spiderman may have been their biggest hit ever but Sony Pictures still has a plethora of viable franchises at their beck and call like... 'No Time to Die' the new Bond movie coming out hot-on-the-heels of the disappointing 'Spectre'. Or... 'Jumanji 2: The next level'... Yeah, Sony aren't really in a strong position with their movie slate right now.
There are no good sides in this debate. I've mentioned in passing how Disney are being incredibly greedy with this move; in fact, it almost looks like the first step towards a takeover (Especially how the deal would have left Disney open to demand a cut from Sony's other stand alone films.) Yet Sony are insane if they think that Spiderman can still be just as popular outside of the MCU. DC have proven time and time again how people don't want standalone super hero movies anymore, and Solo proved that the power of fan backlash is strong enough to sink a multi-million dollar movie. Unfortunately, it's Tom Holland and Spiderman that are caught in the resulting crossfire.
Things have mostly died down after D23 and it is starting to look dire for Spiderman fans. Kevin Feige finally came out with a statement that seemed to confirm that everything had been said-and-done and the deal was dead in the water. Amateur body language-analysts, on the otherhand, claim that Tom Holland's response seems to indicate that not all hope may be lost. (Based on his previous reputation as being bad at keeping secrets.) I find it hard to say definitively how things will end up but I think it's ridiculous how, once again, licensing rights are getting in the way of telling great stories. This is just another one of the many reasons why I prefer to stick to the world of games. A world where licensing never gets in the way of- What do you mean there are rumors that Disney want to renew their Star Wars exclusivity with EA for another 10 years!? SON OF A-
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