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The divorce broke out in public on August 20, Sony accusing Disney, the Burbank-based studio was now Feige too busy to work on future movies. "We hope this will change in the future, but understand that the many new responsibilities that Disney has entrusted to him – including all newly added Marvel properties – leave him no time to work on intellectual property that is not theirs. does not belong, "said Sony Pictures. . The quarrel marked a rare manifestation of conflicts between studios. same Avengers: End of the game Star Jeremy Renner joins the fray and calls Instagram: "Hey @sonypictures, we want Spider-Man to come back to @therealstanlee and @marvel, thanks."
Disney and Sony were at different places when the idea of a cooperation was addressed in 2014. Sony was coming out of two successful but largely ridiculed Amazing Spider-Man movies and was seen as wasting the most popular Marvel hero. Marvel, while successful, was still finding his place in his "second phase" of movies, leaping from the nadir with Thor: Dark World at the zenith with Guardians of the Galaxy.
It was in this environment that Sony Pictures Entertainment co-president Amy Pascal turned to Feige and presented a proposal over lunch. What resulted was a very simple arrangement. So simple, say the insiders, that the agreement is only a document of four to five pages. Sony would lend Spider-Man for a movie, Captain America: Civil Warand in return, Sony would get Feige's production service for two films. The agreement was then revised to include both Avengers: war in the infinite and End of Game. "You have to remember that Marvel was not in the same place as today, but it had to be figured out where this" superhero thing "could go," says one insider. aware of the market.
Disney has not received a production fee, nor has Feige for the initial contract, several insiders said. "The mere fact that Spider-Man finds himself in one of their movies at the time was a stem cell infusion for Marvel," notes a source regarding the company's willingness to enter into an agreement at the time. # 39; era.
There was also the unique merchandising device. Sony had previously waived Disney's merchandising rights for a one-time payment of $ 175 million. Insiders also noted in this transaction a provision providing that Disney paid Sony an annual fee of about $ 30 million a year. Sources say Disney has linked the royalty to the performance of Feige films; the better the films, the lower the royalty. (It is unclear if this will change in the future.)
Whatever the case may be, this arrangement was revolutionary. It was a major studio that lent one of its senior lieutenants to a rival who held the film rights of a character that he owned in every respect. And Feige was given carte blanche to make Spider-Man work as he wanted, even though Sony was holding the purse.
And both reap the benefits of this arrangement. Civil war, with the key support of the web slinger, reported $ 1.15 billion. Back home, Feige's debut film, grossed $ 880.1 million, even though it featured Marvel's Iron Man and deepened the interwoven storylines of the two companies' films. And Spider-Man was also an emotional jeweler and a fan favorite in both games Avengers movies, both of which have grossed more than $ 2 billion. In the case of Avengers: End of the game, the film has become the main source of money of all time. Marvel made a winning run at Comic-Con, driving fans into a frenzy by mocking new movies. The MCU, with its next phase defined, seems almost unstoppable.
Sony, meanwhile, has also made progress with a renewed commitment to the spin-off of Spider-Man. At a retreat, Rothman, who succeeded Pascal when the latter was fired under Sony's email email, was convinced by two senior executives to see the super-movies. Heroes not as a fashion, but as genres belonging to a larger genre. The result was Venom, a scorned movie that nevertheless yielded $ 856 million. A sequel is now in the works. Also in post-production is Morbius with Jared Leto.
And then there was Phil Lord and Chris Miller Spider-Man: in the Spider-Verse, the animated film that became one of the critics of the critics in 2018 and won the best Oscar for animated film. Sony felt like they were coming back to a place where they could hit on their own. Tom says, "OK, we've learned everything we need from Kevin's textbook. We were doing Venom ourselves and we did it Spider worms, "Commented an insider from Sony.
Now, the insiders of both studios are pointing to counter-offers that have never arrived or are supposed to be extremely generous. "The economic terms for that [Spider-Man] The franchise seems to have become more complicated, partly reflecting Disney's changing priorities since the acquisition of Fox, "said Wall Street analyst Tuna Amobi, who is not surprised by the stalemate. From an economic and creative point of view, the development probably has more implications in both cases for Sony. "
Rothman will have to offer a Marvel-less rate at the height of the character's MCU. "If both sides can not reach a compromise, it's a win-win game for everyone," says Shawn Robbins, chief analyst of the Box Office website. "Marvel will not be able to solve this problem in future movies, which says a lot about his most popular hero." And for Sony, which has been successful, Far from home will not reach a billion dollars without the participation of Feige and Marvel. "
Robbins adds, "The other big question is," How will fans react to a Tom Holland Spider-Man movie that does not take place in the MCU? "It's a dice roll that no studio should take."
Because there is so much money to be won, parties could also possibly come back to the table. "It is in the interest of both parties to reach an agreement," notes Steven Birenberg, an analyst at Northlake Capital Management, which owns the Disney shares. "Spidey is an important part of what Marvel did in the MCU and seems to be what they plan to do. Perhaps for the first time since Iron Man and the first films after uncertainty about the success of future Marvel films, defining success as the ridiculously high bar that the Avengers put. "
Feige, meanwhile, has a lot on his plate, including the sizzle of sequelae at Thor and Black Panther and Captain Marvel as well as the new leader's preparations such as The eternals and Blade, not to mention a larder full of mutants, which means Fox's X-Men.
Sony's team is less diverse and, although it is advancing with spin-offs and a sequel to Venom, the future of Spider-Man is not clear. According to sources, Holland would have an option for one more film, while director Jon Watts would have completed his contract with two images and would be free to pursue other projects. "The big test will take place in about two years, at the creation of a possible Spider-Man movie," says Sony's insider.
Paul Bond and Georg Szalai contributed to the reports.
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