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| Courtesy SPE |
Last year Sony Pictures Entertainment [SPE] and Marvel Studios announced a blockbuster deal allowing Spider-Man and other characters from Spider-Verse to appear in Marvel Cinematic Universe as well as characters from the MCU to appear in SPE films and for the future live-action Spider-man films to be filmed by Marvel Studios while SPE retains distribution rights and funding the films.
Even though that all sounds like a great deal, there are those at Sony who wonder if they gave up the house to save the car in the deal. Here is how that argument works.
Under the terms of the IP that SPE controls there are a great number of villains (approximately 36) from Doctor Octopus, The Lizard, Electro, Green Goblin, Kraven the Hunter, Rhino, the Hobgoblin and so forth. There are some compelling secondary characters including Aunt may, Jay Jonah Jameson, Harry Osborne, Gwen Stacey, Mary-Jane Watson amongst others.
If you look at Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man, in other media, when the character is most compelling and audience friendly it usually involves Peter's interaction with another super-hero.
The reason for this is it gives the writers a better outlet for Peter to express his problems. Since no other super-hero has appeared in a Spider-Man film that automatically leads to the question, what other Super-Heroes does SPE control under the terms of the IP. The answer is none. Not Daredevil, Punisher, Ice-Man, Firestorm, Wolverine, Nova, Tigra, Power-Man, Spider-Girl, Silk or even Miles Morales. The closest thing to a Super-Hero that SPE controls is the Black Cat. This creates a situation where SPE's Spider-Man is virtually stuck on a hamster wheel telling variations of the same story.
Spider-Man: Homecoming in theory allows SPE to do just that, with Robert Downey Jr reprising his role as Tony Stark/Iron Man with some sort of mentorship program between Iron Man and Spider-Man. In that solution is the bigger problem, instead of multiple movies you still only have Spider-Man and 36 Villains. They didn't get Miles Morales, Cindy Moon, Mayday Parker or Jessica Drew all of which are Spider-Verse characters in other media formats but not in SPE IP.
So as these dissenting voices are suggesting, SPE has taken one step forward, but will have to take two steps back after Spider-Man: Homecoming is released as they only have one avenue, Tom Holland as Spider-Man, to release these films.
What about Venom and Sinister Six, anti-hero films that SPE has in the works. The Sinister Six is now too late, no matter how good or bad the film could be it will always be compared to Suicide Squad and Deadpool. Venom has possibilities but it will take real work to succeed, and with Tom Rothman in charge at SPE I doubt it will get the effort it needs (see X-Men: Last Stand).
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| Courtesy SPE |
From the top at SPE, Tom Rothman CEO, it may not matter, the hope is that Spider-Man: Homecoming will cost $50 to $70 M USD less than Amazing Spider-Man 2 and earn $50 to $70 M USD more domestically at the box office and $50 to $100 M USD more at the international box-office. In essence earn $100 M USD more and cost $50 M USD less means $150 M USD more in their pockets. So the question for this blog to answer, can it Spider-Man; Homecoming do that?
Costing less money is the easier part of the question, Marvel Studios and Disney have a solid recent history of doing just that, getting a better band for your buck than other studios.
Box Office wise can a stand alone Spider-Man movie, with a young director, unknown cast, hit $325M USD domestically and $500M USD internationally?
My answer today is no. That doesn't mean it won't or that the things stacked up against it today won't change, but today's road makes that very tough to do.
The first problem is rating. The Amazing Spider-Man and the Sequel were both rated PG-13, a very mild PG-13, but still PG-13. SPE attempted to market both films as being family friendly, that marketing didn't work. So the question becomes how far away from family friendly is SPE and Marvel Studios willing to take a movie about your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. It is a quandary I am sure that Amy Pascale and Kevin Feige are still talking about. Tom Rothman and other leadership at SPE would love to see the film rated PG not PG-13 and that really effects what you can and cannot do in the film. It is the compromise that hurt the story telling in the latest two movies, besides obvious story issues.
The next problem is competition, Tentpole films usually have a week or two to lead the way, not the case for this release schedule. Despicable Me 3 is released the week before and War for the Planet of the Apes the following week. I got to believe the date is going to change for this film. There are better more solid dates where the competition is not so fierce.
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| Courtesy Marvel Studios |
The final question is whether or not the audience is comfortable with a THIRD Peter Parker in 10 years. I know I am not, I think there were far better ways SPE and Marvel Studios could of handled the situation.
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