Look out, here comes Spider-Man.
This week, Sony Pictures Entertainment and Marvel Studios announced a partnership that will finally bring the popular character into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
In a press release, Marvel detailed the new deal; Spider-Man’s film appearance will be rebooted in an upcoming, undisclosed Marvel film in the MCU. (The Wall Street Journal speculates that the film in question is “Captain America: Civil War” in 2016.)The character will then star in his own movie produced by Sony Pictures on July 28, 2017. The film will be co-produced by Kevin Feige (Producer, “The Avengers”) and Amy Pascal (Chairman, SPE Motion Picture Group).
According to the news release, both companies are collaborating on the creative direction of the character, but “Sony Pictures will continue to finance, distribute, own and have final creative control of the Spider-Man films.”
Variety reports that the deal comes at no financial cost to Marvel Studios. Marvel will not receive any earnings from the global box office, and Sony Pictures will not receive any revenue earned by Disney from Marvel’s films.
Bob Iger, Chairman and CEO of The Walt Disney Company said in the press release: “Spider-Man is one of Marvel’s great characters, beloved around the world. We’re thrilled to work with Sony Pictures to bring the iconic web-slinger into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which opens up fantastic opportunities for storytelling and franchise building.”
“We always want to collaborate with the best and most successful filmmakers to grow our franchises and develop our characters. Marvel, Kevin Feige and Amy, who helped orchestrate this deal, are the perfect team to help produce the next chapter of Spider-Man,” said Michael Lynton, Chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment. “This is the right decision for the franchise, for our business, for Marvel, and for the fans.”
This partnership will push back the release dates of several MCU films, including: “Thor: Ragnarok,” “Black Panther,” “Captain Marvel” and “Inhumans.” The release dates for “Avengers: Infinity War Part 1”and “Avengers: Infinity War Part 2” remain unchanged.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios relinquished its rights to Spider-Man in 1999 in a deal with Columbia Pictures, a subsidiary of Sony Pictures Entertainment. Columbia Pictures released three Spider-Man films directed by Sam Raimi by 2007. “Spider-Man 3” was met with heavy criticism, even by its director who stated on the Nerdist Podcast, “It’s a movie that just didn’t work very well. I tried to make it work, but I didn’t really believe in all the characters, and so that can’t be hidden from people who loved Spider-Man.”
In 2012, the franchise was rebooted with “The Amazing Spider-Man” with Andrew Garfield as the titular character and directed by Marc Webb. The sequel, “The Amazing Spider-Man 2,” was met with similar narrative criticisms as “Spider-Man 3,” and fared far worse in the domestic box office.
The five films have accrued more than $4 billion to date.
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