Yesterday, word got out that Sony and Disney had been having a dispute over the past few months with regard to reaching new terms concerning the use of Spider-Man. For a time, it was believed that money was the root of this nefarious conundrum, after Disney approached Sony asking that all future Spider-Man films be a 50/50 co-financing split between studios. It was then reported that Sony had turned down the offer outright, in the interest of not sharing one of its biggest franchises with the House of Mouse.
Follwing the initial report, Collider and io9, published an update on the matter, saying that Sony had reached out to say that the dispute "comes down to producer credit only and our understanding is negotiations are ongoing."
However, in a rare move to set the record straight, Sony has recently tweeted their take on the Spider-Man scenario:
Much of today’s news about Spider-Man has mischaracterized recent discussions about Kevin Feige’s involvement in the franchise. We are disappointed, but respect Disney’s decision not to have him continue as a lead producer of our next live action Spider-Man film. (1/3)
— Sony Pictures (@SonyPictures) August 21, 2019
Sony then added to their initial statement by tweeting:
We hope this might change in the future, but understand that the many new responsibilities that Disney has given him – including all their newly added Marvel properties – do not allow time for him to work on IP they do not own. (2/3)
— Sony Pictures (@SonyPictures) August 21, 2019
Kevin is terrific and we are grateful for his help and guidance and appreciate the path he has helped put us on, which we will continue. (3/3)
— Sony Pictures (@SonyPictures) August 21, 2019
As you can see from the above tweets, Sony is assuredly feeling the loss of Feige's involvement in the franchise, though they appear confident in their ability to deliver quality Spider-Man films, even without his involvement. To that end, their confidence no doubt stems from pulling off a $856 million global take with Ruben Fleischer's VENOM starring Tom Hardy, as well as the overwhelming success of their Oscar-winning animated feature SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE ($375.4 million global).
Fans of the friendly neighborhood wall-crawler were immediately infuriated by the news, and within a very short period of time, established a BoycottSony hashtag via Twitter. The online protest gained quite a bit of traction at first, but like all great Twitter boycotts, disheartened contributors to the cause eventually lost their steam as if overnight. For the moment, the Spider-Man situation feels too fresh to stamp a definitive "yes" or "no" as to whether a deal will be worked out, though if I'm being honest, things aren't looking good. What this could mean for Tom Holland's Spidey, or the MCU continuity remains to be seen. One thing's for certain, though, Marvel fans are pissed. Without a doubt, it will be interesting to see how this all shakes out, and whether or not Sony can salvage what they hope to gain from the wreckage.
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