Spider-Man has
been the focus of much talk lately. Since the news first broke out that Marvel
and Sony were in talks to perhaps share Spidey, rumors and speculations caught
on like wildfire.
The questions in
everyone's minds are, will he return to Marvel, where he would most likely be
rebooted, is a shared custody of the character something we should be paying
attention, or will he stay put over at Sony and nothing changes?
Well according
to Entertainment Weekly as of now, the correct answer is the latter one.
"Sources on
both sides confirm that much. But a few years from now… that’s a possibility,
at least according to EW’s sources. (Official reps for the two studios
both declined to comment.)"
EW's sources also say that
several things need to happen before we hear anything official, one way or the
other.
"1.) Sony isn’t interested in sharing its
Spider-Man toy. Sony’s license has a ticking clock. Every three years,
the company has to make a film utilizing the character; otherwise, the
rights revert back to Marvel, which is now not only a comic book company
but also full-fledged movie production house (owned by Sony’s rival studio, The
Walt Disney Co.). When studios fail to exercise their license, the characters
return home—which is what happened with Fox and Daredevil when plans for a
reboot directed by Joe Carnahan went
“up in smoke.” Now Marvel Studios has turned the blind superhero into a
Netflix series. Sony already released its hold on Ghost
Rider—but that wasn’t much of a loss, and it wasn’t much of
a gain for Marvel, which inherited a played-out franchise. Spider-Man is
an infinitely more popular character, and although Sony has struggled to keep
the franchise profitable after rebooting it with Marc Webb as director and
Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker, they resent the idea that now is the time to throw in the
towel.
2.) Sinister Six is definitely happening. There’s
already a new Spider-Man movie in the pipeline at Sony, a
villain team-up teased in this summer’s Amazing
Spider-Man 2. It’s set for release in November 2016, which gives
the project enough time to fix what might be broken in Sony’s current approach.
If writer/director Drew Goddard (a Joss Whedon collaborator who made The Cabin
in the Woods with
the Avengers director) can crack the code, and
this bad-guy team-up can put Spidey back in the good graces of audiences, Sony
can place its thumb on its nose and wiggle its fingers at Marvel Studios.
3.) The Faceplant Scenario could happen too. Sony
may be resistant to the idea of partnering with Marvel Studios, but
it isn’t stupid. The leadership at the Culver City studio knows that five
films and 14 years after Sam Raimi helped to galvanize the cinematic
superhero renaissance with 2002’s Spider-Man,
the web-shooters may be out of juice come 2016. Even Batman went south, alienating moviegoers
with fatal doses of camp; the property disappeared for many years before
being resuscitated by Christopher Nolan. If Sinister
Six flops,
those fingers wiggling in front of Sony’s nose could well morph into a
handshake with Marvel Studios. Only then, amid dismal box office receipts more
than two years from now, would any deep negotiations be had about forging
a hero-sharing deal between Sony and Disney that could team up Spidey and the
Avengers.
4.) Marvel wants Spider-Man, but doesn’t need Spider-Man. This
is why no one should expect any deal-making to happen soon. Sony wants to keep
its character, and Marvel has plenty of other characters to occupy its
schedule. But it was the success of 2002’s Spider-Man (and
Bryan Singer’s 2000 blockbuster X-Men),
that made the comic book company realize it might want to stop licensing its
heroes and start making movies on its own. Marvel and Sony already share
revenue on toys and other merchandise for the webslinger, and Marvel could
easily kick in financing for a Sony film if it meant getting its character
back for cameos or supporting roles in ensembles like the Avengers movies. But time is on both
studios’ sides: If Sony bungles Sinister
Six, Marvel is in a much stronger position to say, “Let
us come in and help.” That’s where a sharing partnership could come
about. Or Sinister Six could crash so badly, and Spidey
could become such damaged goods, that Sony simply surrenders the rights.
Marvel gets what it wants in both scenarios. The only way it loses is if Sony
wins big with its next installment.
5.) This won’t be your father’s Spider-Man. Marvel
can’t sit around counting on havingSpider-Man in a movie. There are just too
many variables at play, and Marvel has a
full schedule through 2019 anyway. If the rights came back to Marvel
tomorrow (which, remember, is not remotely possible), the best you could expect
is to see Spider-Man become a supporting player in one of the movies that’s
already in the works. Given that Sony will have to wait until 2016
before the studio knows what it wants to do with the license, you probably
couldn’t see a stand-alone Marvel-produced Spider-Man picture until 2020, or more
likely 2021 or 2022. People who saw Raimi’s original Spider-Man as little kids would be able to
take their own children to this one, a full generation after the first
movie hit theaters. Robert Downey Jr. would be 58. Still playing Iron Man?
Maybe. But pushing 60, he’d be more like Iron
Deficiency Man."
Source - EW
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