Sony Pictures Releases Statement on Spider-Man Leaving the MCU

Following yesterday’s shocking news that Disney and Sony Pictures were cutting ties on their arrangement to share the Spider-Man franchise, Sony has released a statement to clarify the situation.

“Much of today’s news about Spider-Man has mischaracterized recent discussions about Kevin Feige’s involvement in the franchise,” Sony stated on Twitter. “We are disappointed, but respect Disney’s decision not to have him continue as a lead producer of our next live action Spider-Man film. We hope this might change in the future, but understand that the many new responsibilities that Disney has given him – including all their newly added Marvel properties – do not allow time for him to work on IP they do not own. Kevin is terrific and we are grateful for his help and guidance and appreciate the path he has helped put us on, which we will continue.”

Much of this does not coalesce with yesterday’s reports that the disagreement was over the amount of financing and profit Disney had in future Spider-Man films, as opposed to it being over Feige not having enough time to contribute. Of course io9 was given an update from Sony that said “negotiations are ongoing,” and much of this continuing story has the air of negotiating in the press. It hasn’t helped Sony’s case that their stock immediately dropped following news of the Marvel split.

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Two Spider-Man movies are currently in the works with star Tom Holland and director Jon Watts, and Feige will not be the lead producer of those movies as Marvel Studios will apparently no longer have any future involvement in the Spider-Man universe.The fallout comes after Sony turned down Disney’s offer that future Spider-Man movies be a 50/50 co-financing arrangement. In turn, Sony offered to keep the same arrangement under the current terms with Marvel receiving about 5% of first-dollar gross, and Disney rejecting the offer.

Earlier this year Avengers: Endgame (also featuring Spider-Man) became the highest-grossing film of all time, followed by Spider-Man: Far From Home surpassing Skyfall to become the highest-grossing film ever for Sony, both produced by Feige. Sources told the outlet that Sony feels “they will be fine” without Feige at the producing helm. Watts and Holland are part of the creative template for the upcoming Spider-Man films, along with producer Amy Pascal.

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Sony’s upcoming slate includes the Venom sequel, starring Tom Hardy and directed by Andy Serkis, as well as Jared Leto’s Morbius, Kraven the Hunter, and a spinoff featuring Silver Sable and Black Cat.

What do you think about the Sony and Disney split? Sound off in the comments below!