After stressing out fans for more than a month by suggesting their beloved wall-crawling Avenger will not appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) anymore, Sony and Disney/Marvel finally reached a deal for bringing Spider-Man back to the big screen.
“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,” said Marvel Studios co-president Kevin Feige on Friday, reported Variety. “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.”
The exact terms of the deal have not been fully revealed to the public, but the Marvel Studios, under Kevin Feige, will produce another Spider-Man film for Sony, according to Variety. The new film will be the third one of the “Spider-Man: Homecoming” series, and will once again feature Tom Holland as the friendly neighborhood hero Peter Parker. It is scheduled to be released on July 16, 2021.
The two entertainment giants stated in late August, not too long after the release of “Spider-Man: Far From Home,” that Spider-Man might leave the MCU after they could not agree on a new financing deal. Disney reportedly wanted a 50/50 cut on all revenue made via Spider-Man movies, possibly including other Spider-Man-related movies like “Venom.” Sony rejected those proposed terms, preferring to keep the original arrangement whereby Marvel receives around 5 percent from the first dollar gross and merchandising revenue.
The partnership between Marvel and Sony has been a fruitful one in terms of the box office. According to IMDb, “Spider-Man: Homecoming” made more than $880 million worldwide, ranking the 6th highest-grossing movie of 2017. This summer’s “Spider-Man: Far From Home” became Sony’s most profitable film ever with $1.1 billion. Spider-Man was also a key role of 2018’s “Avengers: Infinity War” and a minor but powerful role in this year’s “Avengers: Endgame”. The two films combined boasted a worldwide box office of more than $4.8 billion, with the latter setting a new record as the top film of all time, not adjusted for inflation.
The possible loss of Spidey to the MCU has disappointed and agitated the fans, who complained on social media, generating the #SaveSpiderMan and #SaveSpidey trending tags on Twitter.
