“Welcome Back Spiderman!”

It feels like he never left: Spider-Man is back in Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) which is owned by Disney. Spider-man fans are delighted after Sony Pictures and MCU announced the third spider man movie with Tom Holland after negotiations between the two, keeping the doors open for spider man to appear in any future Avengers movie.

About Spider-Man

Spider-Man is one of the most affluent characters, created by the legendary writer and editor late Stan Lee in the 1960s. In 1980 Marvel before the Disney US$4.24 billion acquisition of the comics company in 2009 put it on sale because at that time superhero movies weren’t as attractive money makers as they are today. The film rights were sold to Sony in 1999 for a reported US$7 million. Besides, the success of Spider-Man played by Tobey Maguire in 2002, which became a huge box office success for Sony, prompted Marvel to enter the superhero flick game themselves. But Sony’s second effort starring Andrew Garfield, directed by Marc Webb was far less successful resulting in sending the company back to the drawing board.

In addition, the Spider-Man game for PS4 is one of the highest-selling games, and with the growing popularity of the Spider-Man character among the younger generation across the globe, the market for the gaming console is expected to witness significant growth in the coming years.

The Deal

Marvel has long wanted to show Spider-Man in its movies, but since Sony controlled the rights to the character since 1999, it failed to do so. Marvel originally wanted to buy back Spider-Man from Sony but had to satisfy with its partnership in 2015 which enabled both Sony and Marvel to mutually benefit at the box office by having Spider-Man appear in their movies. The deal turns out to be cheaper (more like free), as Marvel Studios didn’t pay Sony Pictures for the rights to put Spider-Man in “Captain America: Civil War and the multi superhero franchise movie “Avengers”, simultaneously Marvel didn’t receive a share at the box office for any Sony films that featuring Spider-man. Also, Sony didn’t receive any percent of the revenue Disney made from Marvel's films featuring Spider-Man. The agreement gave more power to MCU, as Sony was able to profit off only two successful solo movies while the Marvel studios were able to put Spider-Man in three MCU films whose revenue far exceeded that of Sony solo films.

In addition, Spider-Man has always been a box office hit for the last twenty years, since Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man in 2002 which grossed over eight hundred million USD worldwide. Even the first three original movies grossed over USD700 million. While both of the movies under rebooted franchise with Andrew Garfield grossed less than the original series which is considered one of the prime reasons for the deal with Marvel in 2015. Besides, the latest Spider-Man: Far From Home is one of the highest-grossing movies distributed by Sony Pictures with more than US$1.13 billion in box office collection this year. Furthermore, Spider-Man: Far From Home and PepsiCo teamed up for global action-packed promotional partnerships, such partnerships are expected to increase in the coming future due to the strengthening of the brand image of Spider-Man as a superhero thus augmenting the market growth opportunities for food inclusions market.  

This year, news broke that Disney and Sony have reached a stalemate over a new deal. Disney wanted the movie to be financed on an equal ratio with MCU president Kevin Feige remaining in a consulting producer capacity. While Sony is believed to stay on the existing terms which specify that Marvel will receive about 5% of first-dollar gross and all of the merchandising revenues resulting in no concrete outcome. 

On one hand, Sony received critical acclaim with the 2018 Academy award-winning animated movie “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” and also company made lots of money with “Venom” which makes its cinematic debut, while on the other hand Marvel movies Avengers franchise featuring Spider-Man were considered as the all-time block blusters. Besides, Spider-Man leaving the MCU would be considered a disaster for Disney, leaving both companies to negotiate a new deal in which both sides can move forward with one of the most popular superhero brands.

Finally, this September the two companies hammered out a deal and announced the third film in the Spider-Man Homecoming series featuring Tom Holland in a lead role. This came after the confirmation statement given by both companies, even Tom Holland the lead actor in the movie posted “I am not leaving” on social networking sites making it a clear move. Moreover, after the deal, the film is scheduled for release in July 2021. According to the newspapers citing sources, the deal between both companies is finalized on certain grounds including Disney co-financing 25% of the third Homecoming film for a quarter of the equity stake. The deal also calls for Spider-Man appearing in one more Marvel movie. It is considered a win-win situation for both the production giants, which t is likely to give Sony another USD1 billion grossing movie along with the more than eight percent distribution fee.

So, to conclude, it was a much-awaited deal for Spider-Man fans. There is also a lot of ecstatic screaming as well as back-patting from fans saying “yes we did it”. Even the MCU President stated that they are thrilled that Spidey’s journey in MCU will continue and Marvel studios are very excited that they get to keep working on it. This deal has a great impact on the global media and entertainment industry. However, Sony and Disney’s collaborative effort to revolutionize the superhero franchise through the adoption of the latest technologies like video editing and streaming software bound to boost this particular market in the coming years. Similarly, such collaborative efforts are not only going to aid video editing software market but will also push its competitors such as DC comics superheroes, to adopt the latest technologies. Disney is also planning to launch its video-on-demand streaming subscription service which will further propel the market growth opportunities for solution providers. All in all, there was too much money involved on the table and also future potential for both companies was at stake; luckily deal cracked out this time for both sides.

 

About the Author:

Rajat Sudan is a Market Research Analyst at Knowledge Sourcing Intelligence, working on estimates and global/regional specific reports on multiple industries ranging from agriculture to semiconductor, with a special knack for packaging and ICT. With the addition of his formal education in Economics, Mathematics, and Finance, he is able to provide more light on the macro aspects of the story. To read more articles by him, and for more information regarding multiple global markets, visit https://www.knowledge-sourcing.com.