Sony and Marvel struck a deal that would have the character allowed to make appearances in the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies (Avengers, Captain America, Iron Man). For those who are confused, Sony owned the film rights to the character Spider-Man, which meant he wasn't allow to appear in other studios' movies (Marvel was first partnered with Paramount, before being acquired by Disney in 2009).
Also in this deal, we will be getting another Spider-Man movie soon, but instead of Amazing Spider-Man 3, the franchise will be re-started....again. Marvel's Kevin Feige (producer of Avengers and other movies in the MCU) will produce along with former Sony exec Amy Pascal (who served as a producer on the Sam Raimi-Tobey Maguire Spider-Man movies, as well as the Marc Webb-Andrew Garfield Amazing Spider-Man movies). Sony will continue to hold distribution rights for solo Spider-Man movies and any other title related to the character (they remain in development on a Sinister Six and Venom movies).
The new movie (currently untitled), is set for July 28, 2017. To make room, Marvel moved Thor: Ragnarok back to November 2017, Black Panther to May 2018, Captain Marvel to November 2018 and Inhumans (appearing on Agents of SHIELD this Spring) to March 2019. Unaffected by this scheduling announcement are the two-part Avengers: Infinity War, both still set for May 2018 and May 2019, as well as Guardians of the Galaxy 2, still set for May 2017.
On a positive end, I like the idea of Spider-Man getting more appearances in other superhero movies. While Sony will now be more of a cooperative arm than a competitor, the webslinger will make a nice, interesting fit into upcoming Marvel movies. He won't appear in Age of Ultron in May or Ant-Man in July, but many sources are reporting a possible Peter Parker appearance in Captain America: Civil War in May 2016 to possibly pave the way for that new movie. I also like the idea of getting another movie sooner rather than later.
On the downside, however, while the deal is beneficial for the franchise and the currently in hack-rehab Sony, it means The Amazing Spider-Man franchise is ending...on a cliffhanger? (what happens after [spoiler alert!] Gwen's death?) That just doesn't feel right. The second movie apparently was given disappointing reception from both critics and fans. But I strongly disagree with those other people. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was the first superhero movie ever to make my Top 10 yearly list (at #10 for 2014), and was exciting and twist-filled. I also thought the multitude of villains only made the story more interesting.
But, I'm probably in a very small boat. Box office also fell to an all-time low for a Spider-Man movie (though $700 million worldwide is respectable at least [the first three movies did end up pulling in around $1 billion each, when adjusted for inflation]). That being said, I wish they could have continued the Andrew Garfield story for at least a little bit longer. It was starting to get more fun than the Tobey Maguire story.
But alas, nothing I can do now. Sony made the deal to try to help Spider-Man live up to the heights of Avengers and The Dark Knight. And so, its not an overall bad idea. But, one has to wonder how things will be over when the script is written for the new movie? Will it be another origins story? Or will we see a different type of Spider-Man? And, will Sony and Marvel clash on different approaches? According to the deal, Marvel will help in advising and writing the solo movies, but Sony has final word. The Marvel movies are between cartoonish fun and mature sensibility, as well as a minorly edgy silver lining. Meanwhile, Sony has given the Spider-Man movies more of a cartoonish and faithful to the comic book-style treatment. It could be, as my title of the post says, quite the tug-of-war.
As for who could take Garfield's place as the guy in the Spandex suit, right now, rumors are flying everywhere. A lot of sources are reporting the front-runners to be Logan Lerman (title character from Percy Jackson movies) and Dylan O'Brien (lead character from The Maze Runner). Other names tossed around include Freddie Highmore, Zac Efron (High School Musical), Donald Glover, and Daniel Radcliffe (title character from Harry Potter movies).
