UPDATED with more details: Sony has agreed to the terms that Disney originally proposed for its participation in a third Spider-Man movie, whereby Disney/Marvel would co-finance 25% of a third Homecoming movie for a 25% equity stake. The deal also calls for Spider-Man appearing in one more Disney/Marvel movie.
This is also a big win for Sony here in continuing a series that will likely give it another $1 billion-plus-grossing film along with an 8% distribution fee or higher. Additionally, the deal keeps intact the creative steering of Disney’s Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige, who led two of the best and most profitable fan-pleasing pics in the Spidey film canon to $2 billion worldwide.
The third film is scheduled for release on July 16, 2021. Amy Pascal will also produce through Pascal Pictures, as she has on the first two Holland-led films.
Disney and Sony mended fences last night in a signed agreement. No matter what nasty backroom dealings there were as this deal came together in the last few months, it’s the fans who won today as the extension of the webslinger into the Avengers movies and Captain America: Civil War, and Feige’s creative fingerprints on the last two Spideys, have all together amassed close to $8 billion for those five movies. Deadline always had a sense that there was a possibility that Sony and Marvel would come together on this. Disney already owns merchandising rights on Spider-Man over the last decade.
The original Sony-Marvel deal over the last two Spider-Man films saw Disney getting an estimated 5% of first-dollar gross, and those were terms that the Burbank studio did not want to move forward with. At one point, Disney’s side heated to a 50/50 co-finance ask, and that was a hard nut for Sony to swallow. Even though Disney would put up half the funding, the risk was how much Sony was going to make back in profit. Per Deadline’s industry profit reports, Sony made $200.1M after all ancillaries on the first Homecoming alone.
Despite the hard-balling, we understand Disney came back to the table after D23 when they read the fanboy crowd on how upset they were over a possible rift in the Spider-Man universe. It was there that Holland appeared (to promote his Pixar movie Onward), acknowledging the rough studio talks and assuring fans, saying, “It’s been a crazy week, but I want you to know I am grateful from the bottom of my heart and I love you 3,000.”
“I am thrilled that Spidey’s journey in the MCU will continue, and I and all of us at Marvel Studios are very excited that we get to keep working on it,” Feige said in a statement Friday. “Spider-Man is a powerful icon and hero whose story crosses all ages and audiences around the globe. He also happens to be the only hero with the superpower to cross cinematic universes, so as Sony continues to develop their own Spidey-verse you never know what surprises the future might hold.”
We hear that as Sony progresses their own Marvel universe with titles likes Venom 2 and Sinister Six, and Disney/Marvel their own, there could be a “call and answer” between the two franchises as they acknowledge details between the two in what is would loosely be described as a shared detailed universe. Details on that are still early.
“This is terrific. Peter Parker’s story took a dramatic turn in Far From Home and I could not be happier we will all be working together as we see where his journey goes,” said Pascal. “This has been a winning partnership for the studios, the franchise and the fans, and I’m overjoyed it will continue.”
Spider-Man: Far From Home became Sony’s biggest film ever worldwide with $1.13 billion, unseating previous studio champ Skyfall, which made $1.1B.
Deadline exclusively reported on the fight between Sony and Marvel over maintaining the latter’s involvement in the franchise with Feige that lasted over the past several months. At one point, Sony was essentially going to make the third Spider-Man Homecoming pic without Feige and Marvel.
“We have had a great collaboration over the last four years, and our mutual desire to continue was equal to that of the many fans. We are delighted to be moving forward together,” a Sony spokesperon said this morning.
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