Breaking: Spider-Man webbed out of MCU

Spider-Man ©Sony Pictures As I was browsing through Twitter, I saw that Spider-Man was trend...

Spider-Man ©Sony Pictures

As I was browsing through Twitter, I saw that Spider-Man was trending and I decided to investigate why. This led me to a couple of sites, namely, IGN and Deadline.

Kevin Feige removed from position as Spide-Man producer

According to Deadline, Marvel Studios will not produce any further Spider-Man films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, due to an inability between Sony Pictures and Disney to reach new terms that would have given Disney a co-financing stake moving forward.A dispute at the top levels of both companies has essentially resulted in Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige being nixed from future Spider-Man projects, according to Deadline. Disney had asked for a 50/50 co-financing agreement between the two studios on future Spider-Man films. Again according to Deadline's sources, Sony turned that offer down. Sony proposed keeping the arrangement similar to the terms that dictated the first two Spider-Man MCU films, such that Disney would only receive 5 percent of first dollar gross. Disney refused that deal.

"First dollar gross" is a practice in film-making finances that means a participant earns a percentage of the film's box office revenue on the first day of release. Stars like Leonardo DiCaprio used this practice on Inception, making more than double his usual rate as an actor because of the film's unexpected success.

Deadline's sources say that Disney CEO Bob Iger had spent the past several months attempting to broker a new agreement for continued Marvel and Sony partnerships. Deadline's sources also say that Sony has reasoned that the studio will manage without Feige.

It's easy to see why Sony might play hardball with Spider-Man. Spider-Man: Far From Home became Sony's highest-grossing film ever in August, reaching $1.109 billion in global box office revenue, beating its previous record holder, the James Bond 2012 film Skyfall.

Ranking the Spider-Man Movies

This is also potentially why Marvel Studios declined to announce a new Spider-Man film at San Diego Comic-Con 2019. Sony still holds the screen rights to Spider-Man solo films and is also the distributor, going all the way back to Sam Raimi's 2002 Spider-Man. Marvel, however, owns all the merchandising rights to Spider-Man.

Deadline's sources state that two additional Spider-Man movies are in the works, and that actor Tom Holland and Homecoming and Far From Home director Jon Watts will still be participating. Producer Amy Pascal, who has worked on every Spider-Man film universe entry since Homecoming (including Venom and Spider-Verse) will also stay on.

Meanwhile, Disney completed its acquisition of 21st Century Fox back in May, spending $71.3 billion dollars to take over the studio's intellectual properties. Those include the multitude of X-Men properties, Deadpool, Fantastic Four, and others.

Fox Movie and TV Show Properties Headed to Disney

It's worth noting that Sony Pictures' 2018 Venom movie managed to gross over $800 million worldwide, and the announced sequel will be directed by Andy Serkis. An interesting detail revealed in the Deadline story is that Feige apparently "lent an unofficial hand" in the development of Venom.

Disney's $4 billion investment in Marvel Studios has since earned the studio more than $18 billion.