Marvel's late nineties movie deal with Sony, literally, culminated in handing over the golden goose (for peanuts) such was the comic book company's dire fiscal state at the time.
Subsequently, Sony built a Spider-Man cinematic franchise that has enjoyed critical and commercial success with Sam Raimi's trilogy, starring Tobey Maguire, and then stymied by a repetitive reboot despite Andrew Garfield's best efforts in the titular role. He was great.
In the meantime. Disney buys Marvel and the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), starting innocuously enough with Iron Man during an era of middling superhero fare, becomes a multi-billion dollar industry unto itself. However, the beloved web-slinger was nowhere to be seen and Thanos was coming in search of six infinity stones to power his Infinity Gauntlet.
Enter Captain America: Civil War and Tom Holland's spectacular Spider-Man. I went there. Sorry, not sorry. Finally, Sony and Disney agreed to a 5-picture deal that would see Peter Parker crossover to the Avengers with Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige overseeing creative chores. In effect, Marvel was curating Stan Lee and Steve Ditko's beloved superhero and Sony handled distribution. Make Mine Marvel, Sony!
Yesterday, news broke Disney and Sony were at an impasse despite Spider-Man: Far From Home becoming Sony's most successful property eclipsing Skyfall. Because shareholders and money. Reaction from fans was immediate and calls to boycott Sony started trending on social media. This tarnished news from Gamescom that Insomniac Games, long associated with the PlayStation brand, had become a first-party studio in the wake of the success of Marvel's Spider-Man on PS4.
It would be a surprise to everyone (including shareholders, I'm sure) if Disney and Sony don't resolve this amicably. It's in their mutual interest. Sony struggles to manage successful film franchises as evidenced by an ailing James Bond and the House of Mouse has the creative nous.
Disney faced a similar situation with the X-Men at Twentieth Century Fox. CEO Bob Iger bought its film and television assets including Star Wars: A New Hope. Could Disney buy Sony? Sure, its war chest is in the billions of dollars. Will it? Doubtful.
What do you think? Can you see Tom Holland's Spider-Man battling Tom Hardy's Venom in a Sony-only universe? Let me know in the comments below.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments are moderated for spam. Stay on topic and do not embed links. Keep it family-friendly.
Thank you.