00:07Sony's controversial split for Marvel over the Spider-Man reboot is continuing to
00:11spill out into the public as many wonder what the future of the former MCU
00:15superhero will look like. Many are now uncertain how Sony will be able to deliver
00:19a Marvel-level hype to a now Marvel-less superhero franchise. As a refresher, it
00:24was reported on Tuesday that after not being able to agree on a financial
00:27arrangement, Sony and Disney have parted ways as co-producers on the revived Spider-Man
00:32movie franchise starring Tom Holland. Disney and Sony had previously entered into a
00:36complex partnership that allowed Marvel to produce the new Spider-Man movies and in
00:40return the superhero was allowed to appear in the MCU such as the Avengers movies.
00:45Disney had been seeking a co-financing arrangement on upcoming movies looking for
00:49at least a 30% stake. Sony, which counts Spider-Man as one of its only reliable
00:54money-making franchises, seeing as the most recent Spider-Man flick, Far From Home, made
00:58$1.109 billion at the box office, becoming Sony's biggest movie of all time, said no.
01:04Sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that Sony executives believe they didn't need
01:08Disney anymore. Meanwhile, Disney was in no way of leaving money and Peter Parker behind.
01:13Sony initially placed the blame on Disney, saying how Marvel president Kevin Feige was
01:17too busy to work on future movies, saying,
01:19We hope this might change in the future, but understand that the many new
01:23responsibilities that Disney has given him, including all their newly added Marvel
01:27properties, do not allow time for him to work on IP they do not own.
01:31Even Avengers Endgame star Jeremy Renner joined in on the action of pointing fingers,
01:35making a plea to Sony on Instagram, writing,
01:38Hey Sony Pictures, we want Spider-Man back to Stan Lee and Marvel please, thank you.
01:43At the time, the arrangement was seen as groundbreaking. Feige was free to run
01:46Spider-Man the way he wanted. Meanwhile, Sony was financially responsible,
01:50although they both reaped the benefits. Homecoming, the first Feige-made movie,
01:54made $880.1 million. Spider-Man was also a fan favorite in the two-part Avengers films,
02:01both of which grossed over $2 billion. Sony also put out Venom, which was a critically
02:05scorned movie that nevertheless grossed $856 million. And then there was Spider-Man
02:11Into the Spider-Verse, the animated film that became one of 2018's critical darlings,
02:15and won the Best Animated Movie Oscar. The feeling from Sony was that it bounced back to a place
02:20where it could strike on its own. A Sony insider went on to say that the thinking was,
02:25OK, we've learned everything we need to from Kevin's playbook, we did Venom on our own,
02:28and we did Spider-Verse. But Sony still has a lot of hype to live up to.
02:33Sean Robbins, chief analyst for box office argues,
02:36If the two sides don't come to a compromise, it's a lose-lose for everybody. Marvel won't be able to
02:40resolve the cliffhanger in future movies. And for Sony, Far From Home doesn't get to a billion
02:45dollars without Feige and Marvel's involvement. For more on this story, head to THR.com.
02:50And until next time, for The Hollywood Reporter News, I'm Neha Joy.
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