The dispute between Sony and Disney has come to a head with Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige pulling the plug on future 'Spider-Man' movies. According to reports, Disney had reportedly asked that revenues of future 'Spider-Man' films be split equally instead of the current deal, which is said to give Marvel (and inturn Disney) only five per cent of the gross revenue.
This comes on the heels of 'Spider-Man: Far From Home' making over a billion dollars at the box office, making it the most lucrative film Sony has ever made. Disney, which would have received $500mn under the new deal, feels that its stewardship of the franchise and 'Spider-Man''s ties to the MCU as a whole are responsible for the revenue and felt that it needed a bigger revenue share owing to that. However, Sony, which still holds the rights to the character, has disagreed and if things don't improve, then 'Spider-Man: Far From Home' could be the web-slinger's final MCU appearance.
Sony feels that the combined creative team of director Jon Watts, who helmed both Kevin Feige produced movies, actor Tom Holland and producer Amy Pascal will be enough to keep the 'Spider-Man' franchise momentum going for future films, even without Feige’s involvement. Holland apparently has one solo film left on his contract, while there are at least two more Jon Watts-directed films starring Holland in the works.
Marvel Studios and Sony first agreed on a deal over 'Spider-Man' in 2015, which would allow for the character to appear in crossover Marvel films, even though Sony maintained the rights to the character and was responsible for financing, distributing, and “final creative control.” Holland, who was then cast as the character has since appeared in the aforementioned two solo films as well as three crossovers — 'Captain America: Civil War', 'Avengers: Infinity War', and 'Avengers: Endgame'.
Sony meanwhile has a lot of films in the 'Spider-Man' franchise in the pipeline, including but not limited to, 'Venom 2', directed by Andy Serkis; the Jared Leto-led 'Morbius the Living Vampire'; a 'Kraven the Hunter' film; a 'Silver Sable / Black Cat' film; and a follow-up to the Academy Award-winning 'Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse'.
(This story originally appeared on cinemaexpress.com)