Sony Chairman Tom Rothman wants to continue the Sony-Marvel partnership and for Spider-Man to remain in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Back in 2015, the two companies made a deal where they can share the movie rights to Spider-Man until Sony and Disney hit a road bump last year resulting in the two big studios bracing themselves for the then-imminent departure of Spider-Man from the MCU. But after countless long nights and a drunk phone call from Spider-Man star Tom Holland with the support of fellow Marvel actor Chris Pratt, Disney and Sony were able to find a middle ground and have signed a new agreement prior to the release of Spider-Man: Homecoming 3 which starts its production later this year.
The new deal sees Sony as the winner with their brand new partnership with Marvel, where Disney sees themselves receiving a quarter of the earnings from Homecoming 3 while shouldering the cost equal to Sony’s. Aside from that, the big kicker is that Sony can now use Tom Holland and the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Venom 2 and Morbius, two of their upcoming superhero flicks.
Holland is also rumored to cameo in Venom’s sequel starring Tom Hardy and will allegedly make cameos in future Spider-Man villain films.
Disney and Sony bosses Alan Horn and Tom Rothman were both presents in the latest The Hollywood Reporter executive roundtable where the new Spider-Man deal between Disney and Sony came up as a topic. Rothman was asked whether the partnership between the two behemoth studios can hold up prior to Homecoming 3’s release with the secret Marvel movie that Holland is currently obligated contractually to appear in, the Sony executive stated that he hopes so because it would be a huge win for all parties involved, alluding to Disney, Sony, and the fans.
Even though it seems like Sony may have gotten off as the bigger winners in this new Spider-Man deal, Disney still has a lot going for them. They will still get a good amount of revenue from future Spider-Man films, but the fact that they get to keep Holland’s Spider-Man in the MCU means the continuous fan support, not to mention the revenue from merchandise which Disney has a tight grip on. Like what Rothman said, it’s a win-win-win for everyone so it would be safe to assume that both Sony and Disney will do everything to maintain this very lucrative partnership.