5 MINUTE MOVIE GUY

These have been exciting times for Spider-Man fans. For the past few months I’ve been gushing and gabbing to anyone who will listen about all of the many different movie possibilities that can be explored with my life-long favorite Marvel character. Things have been looking nothing but up for our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. He’s won an Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film with Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, he’s had two back-to-back hit Marvel movies in Homecoming and Far From Home, he’s had his best video game ever released (exclusively on Playstation 4), and most significantly, he’s seemingly taken over the mantle from Iron Man as the new leader of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). That’s enough to make any fan’s Spidey senses tingle with joy!

Then suddenly out of the blue, the wide world of web-heads was hit with a devastating downpour of bad news. Reports surfaced that Disney and Sony have failed to reach an agreement in their negotiations over the movie rights to the character. Down came the rain, and it washed the Spider-Man out — all the way out of the MCU!

WHAT?! You’ve gotta be kidding me! How could this have even happened? We’re in the middle of peak Spider-Man potential, and the whole thing comes crashing down over money and politics? To quote Aunt May at the end of Homecoming, “WHAT THE F***?!”

This is a move that I’m pretty sure NO ONE saw coming! Just when all of us Spider-Man fans are riding high, we get the proverbial web cut off from above us. The entire Spider-Man movie universe as we know it is now suddenly in complete disarray. (If you want to know more about how this predicament happened, I made a separate news article detailing the dispute between Disney and Sony here. It’s a pretty intricate web of events and contracts that was too much to squeeze in with this blog post.)

I had been aware that Disney and Sony would need to renegotiate their Spider-Man contract, but I was completely caught off guard by this unexpected turn of events. The news also comes just days after it was revealed that Andy Serkis would be directing a sequel to 2018’s Venom. Meanwhile, I was under the impression that the two companies would be working hard to come to a mutually-beneficial understanding that would unite Holland’s Spider-Man with Tom Hardy’s Venom together in a movie, and which could inevitably lead to pairing in a possible Maximum Carnage film. Instead, we’re now left with so much uncertainly about the fate of our hero.

Personally I am disappointed, frustrated, and worried by this news. I’ve been ecstatic about Spider-Man taking on a larger role in the MCU and all of the near-endless potential that brings with it. My immediate reaction was anger towards Sony for not accepting the deal, but I realized that I didn’t know enough about the situation and should explore it further before coming to a conclusion. Well, I did my research, and I still believe Sony is in the wrong here, but I also think that Disney should be willing to bite the bullet and accept a little less if necessary for the sake of the entire MCU. I very much hope this will all blow over and that the two of them will come to a mutual understanding that will allow them to carry on as they previously have been.

I believe it’s ultimately in the best interest of everyone involved, fans included, for them to work this out peacefully. Whatever it takes! After the initial news, it was later reported that the negotiations may have been premature and that both sides could still come to an agreement. I have my fingers tightly crossed that this will be resolved and that it’s all going to work out, because I don’t know what I’m gonna do if it doesn’t.

Well, honestly, I imagine it might involve looking something like this…

5 Minute Movie Guy
8.23.19

(Source: Deadline)