With great success comes great re-negotiation. In the wake of the announcement that Spider-Man: Far From Home is now the highest-grossing film ever in Sony Pictures’ history, reports surfaced that Marvel Studios may be stepping away from the cross-studio partnership.
The Hollywood trade Deadline reported on Tuesday that there was a disagreement over the profit-sharing structure.
According to a person close to the deal who was unauthorised to speak publicly, negotiations are ongoing. But the suggestion that Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige may not produce future live-action Spider-Man movies and that the character itself might not appear in any more Marvel Cinematic Universe films quickly turned into a trending topic.
Sony has held the rights to the Marvel character since 1985, but in 2015, announced a partnership with Disney and Marvel that would allow Spider-Man to be used in MCU films like Avengers:Endgame . It also allowed for Feige to serve as a producer on stand-alone Spider-Man movies like Far From Home.
The crossovers have been well-received by audiences and critics. And the teenaged web-slinger has been made into a central component in the MCU with a close relationship to Tony Stark that drove the storylines in both Endgame and Far From Home . But as Marvel enters its “Phase 4”, Spider-Man also has no official MCU appearances planned.
However, two standalone Spider-Man movies from Sony are in the works, which would bring back director Jon Watts and star Tom Holland. Sony has also created its own web of Spider-Man spinoffs, including the Oscar-winning animated feature Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse , and Venom.
Representatives from the two studios did not respond to requests for comment.