Venom, despite being a silly movie, was a fun flick that made audiences realize that a PG-13 Venom can work when it’s really a romantic adventure between an alien lost from his homeland and a social justice warrior reporter who cares about the homeless community.
The Tom Hardy-led romp has now made over $400 million worldwide and Symbrock—the Venom Symbiote/Eddie Brock pairing—has already changed fanart for the better. But that also means that Sony could be moving forward with their own Spider-Man rights.
As we know Sony and Marvel share Spider-Man like co-parents at the moment, after the mess that was The Amazing Spider-Man and The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Sony shared their rights with Disney/Marvel and that is how we ended up with beloved Tom Holland as Spider-Man in the MCU.
However, Holland and the Sony/Marvel deal is only set to last until Avengers 4 and Spider-Man: Far From Home, so if Sony thinks they can do something successful on their own with Spider-Man, they might keep the character unless Disney buys Sony altogether to keep the character.
According to CBR, this was a risk that the company took in making the film, and now that it has done well, it has given Sony a new set of cards to play when it comes to new negotiations between the two companies. Considering that Marvel has locked down the biggest remaining chunk of the Marvel Comic Universe, I’m sure they were hoping to get all the rights for Spider-Man as soon as possible.
“If it had failed, there is a chance Sony would have definitely returned to the bargaining table with Disney,” Exhibitor Relations senior box-office analyst Jeff Bock explains. “Now, that’s up in the air.” According to Bock, the studio “took a calculated risk with ‘Venom,’ and it’s now going to be a series. It seems Disney needs Sony’s ‘Spider-Man’ more than Sony needs Disney … If they consistently make films audiences want to see, Disney will have to buy Sony to get ‘Spider-Man’ back.”
Sony is already making another Spider-Man villain spin-off with Morbius, the Living Vampire, starring Jared Leto, so we will soon have two brooding and gritty tragically flawed anti-heroes by actors who’ve already played baddies. Hardy is signed on for two more Venom films, and that means we could be getting a whole lot more of this Sony Spider-Man Marvel Universe. It also means that we might get yet another Spider-Man. (Let us not forget that we’re also getting the animated Into the Spider-Verse, with many, many more Spideys.)
Do I think there is any reason for Sony to take back Spider-Man? No. I mean the reality is that both Homecoming and Holland’s Spider-Man are insanely popular, more popular than any previous Spider-Man actor overall, and getting rid of him to just do another live action Spidey doesn’t make much sense.
Plus, with Sony Animation putting out Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, this might be the best time for Sony to do what Marvel did not and pick either Miles Morales or Gwen Stacey’s Spider-Woman to helm this new cinematic universe they are working towards creating. If Sony is going to use their version of Marvel to make interesting queer-loaded stories with their biggest anti-hero characters, bring it on. I look forward to the introduction of Craven the Hunter.
Are you prepared for two more Venom movies and more Jared Leto being extra?
(via CBR, image: Sony)
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