Excellent Reconciliation between Sony and Marvel /Disney. But theirs is a complicated and open relationship. They can see other Franchises?
Swings. Roundabouts. Six of One..
You know the sort of thing. Pick your corporate maxim and it can apply to this. The rights to Spider-Man on film, rested, with Sony, despite the IP belonging to Marvel and thereby, Disney. So a deal was struck whereby they shared production costs and profit and kept Spidey in the ‘MCU’.
All good and very successful. That deal ran out. Another one looked unlikely if not impossible and statements had started being issued of doom and gloom. And yet, a done deal is never a done deal..til it’s..done? And even then you can undo it. It’s showbiz!
Fans of Spider-Man as a brand and a film series as much as a character, were saddened, by what seemed a great loss of good will. Sure, there would still be other sequels and Sony would have retained Tom Holland. But you cannot beat the soul, joy, fun and verisimilitude of tone, that has been brokered since Peter Parker turned up in Captain America: Civil War..all the way to this summer’s jewel in the crown, Far From Home. Sony knew it. Disney /Marvel knew it. We knew it. So it’s a shame the whole thing was so mismanaged so publicly, like an attention seeking band of Divas, rather than commercially and legally aware film studios. Yes, it was publicity. NO: NOT all publicity is good.
What we will now get is a third movie starring Tom Holland and as part of Marvel’s phase 4 batch. Summer 2021. Story-lines /character crossovers can continue. Fabulous! Of course it could all fall through again, but at least we get closure on this particular phase of this iteration on the property. Reboot by all means after that; buy back; or once again keep us hanging til the last minute renegotiation for Peter Parker’s College /early work years. The viral content has started ALREADY: with a Daily Bugle website akin to Alex Jones’ info wars. I get it, though I find placing J Jonah in a potentially alt right framework somewhat distasteful. Some characters are timeless and need no reinvention.
I look forward to this third movie though it probably spells the end of notions we would get a Venom /Spider-Man crossover with two Toms (Holland and Hardy). Instead, Sony are picking up more independent characters for standalone spin offs. MORBIUS is on the way. VENOM 2 is ready to shoot. And now? MADAME WEB! My suggestion is go with an actress who has done it already in a short fan film platform: thereby generating even more viral content / cross platform hype. GILLIAN BRODERICK did a GREAT job: think Alice Krige with dash of Lena Olin? Go on, Sony..THAT’S yer Madame Web.
Credit: Jaime Menendez
