Moviefone Editorial

Tag: SONY

  • Ariana DeBose Cast in ‘Kraven the Hunter’

    Ariana DeBose hand to face
    Ariana DeBose at the 5th Annual Hollywood Critics Association Awards.

    As the studio continues to build the cast for its latest superhero – or in this case, super- antihero – movie, Sony has opted for a popular, award-winning performer to join the cast of ‘Kraven the Hunter.’ Ariana DeBose, who played Anita in Steven Spielberg’s ‘West Side Story’, has joined the movie as the character Calypso, according to Deadline.

    J.C. Chandor is directing the film, which already has Aaron Taylor-Johnson starring as Sergei Kravinoff, AKA Kraven.

    Just in case you’ve somehow forgotten, he’s a regular antagonist for Spider-Man, who in the pages of the comics, has encountered (and caused violent problems for) a number of heroes.

    Kravinoff, created by Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, made his debut in The Amazing Spider-Man #15 in 1964. A maniacal big-game hunter, he made it his mission in life to prove his abilities by beating Spidey. But he’s also been portrayed as something of an antihero and has even fought alongside the web-crawler at times.

    As for DeBose’s character, Calypso originated in the pages of The Amazing Spider-Man #209 in 1980, created by Denny O’Neil and Alan Weiss. She’s a voodoo priestess who has powerful mind control and potion-based magical powers. She’s most closely associated with Kraven and has been his romantic partner at times. But the relationship between the two has always been combustible.

    Kraven animation
    Kraven the Hunter in the ‘Ultimate Spider-Man’ animated series.

    The new casting recruit joins the likes of Russell Crowe and ‘The White Lotus’ Fred Hechinger. While Crowe’s role remains a mystery, there has been talk of the film featuring Kraven’s family, so he may well be the character’s father. Hechinger, meanwhile, is playing Chameleon, a master of disguise who is also Kraven’s brother.

    DeBose, a celebrated stage actor who has appeared in the likes of ‘Hamilton’ and Summer: The Donna Summer Musical, has been winning plenty of plaudits for her performance in ‘West Side Story’, which is no small feat given that the role of Anita was originated on screen by Rita Moreno, who also appears in the new movie and won an Oscar for the 1961 version.

    Thus far, DeBose has won both the SAG Award and the Golden Globe for her work, and she’s nominated for the BAFTA and Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. She has Matthew Vaughn’s spy thriller ‘Argylle’, starring Henry Cavill, on the way and will also be seen in sci-fi movie ‘I.S.S.’, set aboard the International Space Station. The story for that one feels a little too close to home right now, as war breaks out between Russia and the West and astronauts are ordered to take control of the station.

    Chandor is working from a script by Art Marcum & Matt Holloway and Richard Wenk that has been in development for a while now but has taken a big leap forward. ‘Kraven the Hunter’ is currently taking aim at a January 13, 2023 release in theaters.

    Next up for Sony’s Marvel productions is ‘Morbius’, which put out its final trailer yesterday and arrives in theaters on April 1. And not forgetting the animated sequel ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse – Part One’, due on October 7.

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  • Final ‘Morbius’ Trailer is Full of Action

    Jared Leto
    Jared Leto in Columbia Pictures’ ‘Morbius.’

    Even accounting for pandemic delays and other schedule quirks, it’s really beginning to feel like Jared Leto is in a big prosthetics phase. Between ‘House of Gucci’, upcoming TV series ‘WeCrashed’ and ‘Morbius’, he’s up for changing his appearance in big way. And talking of the living vampire, the final trailer for the Sony/Marvel film is now online.

    Leto here is Dr. Michael Morbius. Dangerously ill with a rare blood disorder and determined to save others suffering his same fate, the troubled medic attempts a desperate gamble. While at first it seems to be a radical success, a darkness inside him is unleashed. Will good override evil – or will Morbius succumb to his mysterious new urges?

    And to put it more specifically, his research into far flung blood possibilities and natural cures brings him into contact with vampirism, leading to a shocking transformation. Soon, he’s gifted with enhanced speed and strength (plus a variety of other abilities, including a version of sonar and flight, after a fashion) but cursed with a driving desire to hunt down and consume blood.

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    Created by Roy Thomas and Gil Kane and first arriving in the pages of “The Amazing Spider-Man” in 1971, Morbius was considered as a potential character when Artisan bought the rights to several Marvel titles as possible movies, but nothing came of it.

    With Sony taking on the character, it has been in development for a while, but finally came to fruition under director Daniel Espinosa (‘Life’), alongside writers Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless.

    Though Sony has largely kept its non-MCU Marvel movies away from direct connections with the Disney side of things, we’re increasingly seeing connections – Michael Keaton’s Adrian Toomes, AKA Spider-Man: Homecoming’s Vulture, who here appears to be encouraging Morbius to become who he’s supposed to be. Which, we can only assume, means a villain.

    Likewise, Matt Smith’s Loxias Crown (another character drawn from the pages of Marvel’s comics output), a vampire-linked baddie who wants Morbius to join his crusade against us more normal, living folk.

    Also in the cast is Jared Harris, playing Emil Nikols, another character from the Morbius comics, who appears to be on exposition duty here.

    Jared Leto and Adria Arjona at table
    (L to R) Jared Leto and Adria Arjona in Columbia Pictures’ ‘Morbius.’

    Adria Arjona is Martin Bancroft, also linked to Morbius, while Tyrese Gibson and Al Madrigal are more on the comic relief front at times, as the law enforcement types tracking Morbius’ activity.

    And there are clear links to ‘Venom’, Sony looking to build out its own corner of Marvel adaptations. The biggest question here is whether ‘Morbius’ will pull off the same trick – bringing the character to screens while overcoming potentially negative critical reactions to find an audience willing to embrace a wilder side of Marvel.

    The various pandemic-related release shifts haven’t helped assuage those concerns, and questions arose as to why Sony didn’t move the movie back closer to ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ to coast off the success of that release.

    Still, with claws crossed, the movie will be vamping its way into theaters from April 1.

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  • Sony Recreates Spider-Man Meme

    (L to R) Tom Holland, Andrew Garfield, and Tobey Maguire from 'Spider-Man: No Way Home.' Photo Courtesy of Marvel Entertainment's Instagram.
    (L to R) Tom Holland, Andrew Garfield, and Tobey Maguire from ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home.’ Photo Courtesy of Marvel Entertainment’s Instagram.

    Even before ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ came out, one of the worst kept secrets in movies was the fact that Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield would show up to share the screen with current Spider-Man Tom Holland. (Apologies if you were trying to keep spoiler free on the movie, but we’re afraid it’s well and truly out there).

    After months of trying to stop the news from leaking pre-release, Sony and Marvel are taking a very different approach as they announce the movie’s planned home entertainment arrival. How so? The companies tweeted out a picture of Maguire, Garfield and Holland recreating one of the most famous memes to hit the web (pun unapologetically deployed) – Spider-Man pointing at Spider-Man.

    Just in case you aren’t familiar with this particular meme, the image originates from Episode 19b of the 1967 ‘Spider-Man’ cartoon, titled ‘Double Identity.’ In the story, the villain Chameleon impersonates Spidey to pull off an art heist. He replicates all of the hero’s abilities in order to force a showdown and to try and trick the authorities into arresting everyone’s favorite web-slinger. Suffice to say, Spider-Man shows up and pointing/fighting ensues. Find the clip below…

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRUjV4YC3pA

    The meme itself first debuted in 2011 and became increasingly popular as a way to indicate similar things (there’s an example here). It even inspired the end credits scene for ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’, in which Spider-Man 2099 (AKA Oscar Isaac’s Miguel O’Hara), who meets another Spider-Man and comedy arguments about pointing ensues. You can watch that here…

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFQFd5RvNfA

    It’s fitting for ‘No Way Home’, which sees Holland’s Peter Parker reeling after his secret identity is revealed to the world by J. Jonah Jameson (J.K. Simmons) and he’s framed for the death of Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) in ‘Spider-Man: Far From Home’. Seeking a way to solve the problem, he consults Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), who suggests a spell to make everyone forget that Peter is Spidey.

    Trouble is, Peter’s attempts to make sure his friends and family don’t also lose their memories of his true identity end up causing problems for the spell, tearing open access to the multiverse, and leading to the likes of Doctor Octopus (Alfred Molina), the Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe), Electro (Jamie Foxx), Lizard (Rhys Ifans) and Sandman (Thomas Haden Church), who all appeared in different previous ‘Spider-Man’ movies.

    It does, however, also let Holland’s Parker meet and team-up with Garfield and Maguire’s variants of the character, and there is much swapping of stories before they tackle the various villains.

    This comes on the heels of word from Holland (while appearing on ‘Late Night with Seth Myers’) that one of the three Spider-Men wore a fake butt in their suit. “I’ll give you a spoiler, and I’m not going to tell you who, but one of us has a fake a– in their suit,” Holland said. “You can figure out that for yourselves.”

    ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ will be released on digital March 22, followed by a 4K Ultra HD, DVD and Blu-Ray disc release on April 12. Now we just have to wonder what other memes make it into release announcements. Probably this one.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/CaUphgYuOKV/

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  • Movie Review: ‘Uncharted’

    (L to R) Mark Wahlberg and Tom Holland in Columbia Pictures' 'Uncharted.' Photo by: Clay Enos.
    (L to R) Mark Wahlberg and Tom Holland in Columbia Pictures’ ‘Uncharted.’ Photo by: Clay Enos.

    Opening in theaters on February 18th is the new action-adventure movie ‘Uncharted,’ which is based on the popular video game of the same name. Directed by Ruben Fleischer (‘Venom’), the film stars Tom Holland (‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’) and Mark Wahlberg (‘Transformers: Age of Extinction’) as treasure hunters Nathan Drake and Victor “Sully” Sullivan, respectively.

    In addition to Holland and Wahlberg, the movie also stars Antonio Banderas (‘The Expendables 3‘),  Sophia Ali (‘Truth or Dare’), Tati Gabrielle (’The Emoji Movie’), and Rudy Pankow (‘The Politician’). The result is another mediocre movie adaption of a video game with little to offer except one great action sequence and a charming performance from Tom Holland, but is an otherwise forgettable film.

    ‘Uncharted’ begins with an origin story for Nathan Drake (Holland) and his brother Sam (Pankow) before jumping forward to present day. Sam has gone missing and Nathan is working as a bar tender and pick-pocket when he is recruited by his brother’s former partner, Victor “Sully” Sullivan (Wahlberg) to look for the hidden treasure of the Magellan Expedition. Hoping to discover what happened to his brother, Drake agrees to help Sullivan, but he doesn’t trust him.

    Their rival for the treasure is a wealthy businessman named Santiago Moncada (Banderas), who believes the treasure is his birthright, and mercenary Jo Braddock (Gabrielle). But in order to get to the treasure first, Drake and Sullivan will have to work with fellow fortune hunter Chloe Frazer (Ali), who possesses an important key to finding the hidden gold. Now, trusting no one, they must travel the world looking for clues to the treasure, while Nathan searches for answers to his brother’s disappearance.

    I love video games, but let’s be honest, there has never been a great movie adapted from a video game. The list of mediocre movies adapted from video games is long and includes ‘Warcraft,’ ‘Assassin’s Creed,’ ‘Doom,’ ‘Hitman: Agent 47,’ ‘Need for Speed,’ ‘Rampage,’ ‘Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time,’ and ‘Max Payne‘ (which also starred Mark Wahlberg). Unfortunately, you can add ‘Uncharted’ to that list.

    But let’s start with what is good about the movie. The film begins with an incredible action sequence featuring Holland falling out of a plane, which is actually just a preview of the full sequence that actually takes place in the third act. The filmmakers were wise to start the movie with part of that action scene, since it is the most stunning sequence in the entire film.

    (L to R) Mark Wahlberg and Tom Holland in Columbia Pictures' 'Uncharted.' Photo by: Clay Enos.
    (L to R) Mark Wahlberg and Tom Holland in Columbia Pictures’ ‘Uncharted.’ Photo by: Clay Enos.

    I have to wonder if the screenplay was designed that way, or if the filmmakers realized in post-production that they didn’t have an action sequence in the first 45 minutes of the movie and needed to pull some excitement from the third act. Either way it works but unfortunately, it is the only exciting action sequence in the movie, including the final fight scene.

    Tom Holland is fantastic! The young actor known best for playing Spider-Man gives an absolutely charming performance as Nathan Drake. The character is tougher, and rougher around the edges than Peter Parker, but still has Holland’s signature sweetness and charm. The actor also buffed-up for the role and is completely believable in all of his action sequences. Like “Tom Cruise hanging off the side of a plane” believable! He completely out classes and out shines his co-star Mark Wahlberg and gives a very strong leading-man performance. It’s almost heartbreaking that Holland wasted his talent on such an ordinary film.

    With a movie as unspectacular as ‘Uncharted,’ you have to look at the person behind the camera, in this case, director Ruben Fleischer. The filmmaker made a fantastic debut with 2009’s ‘Zombieland,’ but followed it up with disappointments like ’30 Minutes or Less’ and ‘Gangster Squad.’ Fleischer had a huge box office success with ‘Venom,’ but we can argue whether that was actually a good movie or not. And you have to wonder why the director was not asked back for ‘Venom: Let There Be Carnage.’ That being said, Ruben Fleischer is a serviceable director at best. So, it should be no surprise that the direction of the movie lacks any real feeling of urgency or cinematic style.

    While the movie is loosely based on “Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End,” it incorporates elements of the mythos from the entire franchise. However, the screenplay unfolds like an actual video game, with no real plot other than “We have to go to A to get B to go to C.” With so much mythology to choose from, I wish they had incorporated more of that in the film and allowed it to drive the story, rather than having the story driven simply by “We have to achieve this goal to achieve the next.”

    Actresses Sophia Ali and Tati Gabrielle are both fine in their roles, but not given enough to be truly memorable. Antonio Banderas’ villain is completely over-the-top and one dimensional, and isn’t given enough screen time to be truly threatening. Mark Wahlberg, who has been attached to this project for over a decade and at one point was going to play Nathan Drake, basically phones in his performance and is over shadowed by Holland in every scene. You never really get a sense of who the character of Victor Sullivan really is, and instead it feels more like Mark Wahlberg is just playing Mark Wahlberg.

    In the end, ‘Uncharted’ is a just disappointing movie. The source material offers an extremely rich and intriguing mythology that basically goes to waste with no real character development explored at all. A commanding leading performance from Tom Holland and an exhilarating action sequence is just not enough to make ‘Uncharted’ a movie worth seeing.

    ‘Uncharted’ receives 2 out of 5 stars.

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  • Russell Crowe Joins ‘Kraven the Hunter’

    Russell Crowe in 'Gladiator' (Photo by Karine Weinberger/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)
    Russell Crowe in ‘Gladiator’ (Photo by Karine Weinberger/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)

    Up until a few years ago, we’d have been more surprised to report that the Russell Crowe of today had signed up to co-star in a superhero movie. But following his work with Zack Snyder’s ‘Man of Steel‘/’Justice League‘ films and having taken a role in the upcoming ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’, we’re not so shocked to learn that he’ll be part of the cast for Sony’s ‘Kraven the Hunter.’

    This represents another attempt by the studio to expand its Spider-universe of movies, though a film focusing on Kraven has been in the works for a while now. ‘Triple Frontier’ and ‘A Most Violent Year’ director J.C. Chandor has been attached for a couple of years and in May of 2021, Aaron Taylor-Johnson stepped aboard to play the title character.

    The character of Kraven the Hunter, born Sergei Kravinoff, is a big-game hunter who likes to take down his prey with his bare hands. Kraven meets a witch doctor who gives him a potion that enhances his senses and powers and slows down the aging process. To prove himself as the world’s greatest hunter, Kraven wants to take down Spider-Man.

    First dreamt up by Spidey co-creators Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, Kraven made his debut in the pages of 1964’s ‘The Amazing Spider-Man No. 15,’ and has made numerous appearances in Marvel Comics titles since then. His most famous storyline might be classic 1980s tale ‘Kraven’s Last Hunt,’ in which the villain succeeded in defeating Spider-Man, burying him alive, and assuming his identity.

    Aaron Taylor-Johnson to play the popular Spider-Man villain in Sony's 'Kraven the Hunter'
    Aaron Taylor-Johnson to play the popular Spider-Man villain in Sony’s ‘Kraven the Hunter’

    The Hollywood Reporter’s story on Crowe’s casting makes no mention of whether Tom Holland’s Peter Parker might appear in the film, and for now, we can assume it’ll be focused on Kraven. The exact plot, written in different drafts by ‘Iron Man’ duo Art Marcum & Matt Holloway and ‘The Equalizer’s Richard Wenk, is being kept locked away for now, as is par for the course with movies like this.

    And indeed, ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ was at one point potentially going to feature the character if the multiverse story hadn’t come together. Tom Holland told Collider last December that director Jon Watts had a taker on the idea. “For a long time, there was going to be a Kraven movie that was going to be the third movie because things weren’t working out and all sorts of different stuff. Jon pitched me this Kraven movie, which actually was really cool. I don’t want to talk about it in case that movie ends up happening down the line, but it was fun.”

    Given that Kraven was hinted at among the shadows of characters glimpsed in the multiverse rift at the end of ‘No Way Home’, you know Sony is aiming to have the characters meet down the line. For now, we don’t know who Crowe will be playing, though several characters are reportedly members of Kraven’s family, and we can certainly see him as a tough dad.

    Crowe, as mentioned, has ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ due in theaters on July 8 this year.

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    ‘Kraven the Hunter’ is currently targeting a January 13, 2023 release.

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  • Dakota Johnson in Talks for ‘Madame Web’

    Dakota Johnson at the premiere of 'Fifty Shades of Grey'
    Dakota Johnson at the premiere of ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’

    Having won plenty of acclaim (and some awards nominations) for her role in Netflix’s ‘The Lost Daughter’, Dakota Johnson is looking to become a superhero in a future movie. She’s now in talks to star in Sony’s ‘Madame Web’.

    The movie, which is part of the studio’s interconnected Marvel Spider-Man universe (not to be confused with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with which it links from time to time), has been in development for a while.

    S.J. Clarkson, who has Marvel form with Netflix’s ‘The Defenders’ shows and has worked on shows including ‘Succession’ and ‘Made for Love’, is aiming to make her movie directorial debut. The script comes from Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless, the ‘Dracula Untold’ and ‘The Last Witch Hunter’ writers who have fellow Spider-adjacent movie ‘Morbius’ due in theaters on April 1.

    Madame Web as a Marvel Comics character was created by writer Denny O’Neil and artist John Romita Jr., first appearing in The Amazing Spider-Man #210, which was published in November 1980.

    Known as Cassandra Webb, she is usually depicted as an elderly blind woman suffering from a chronic neuromuscular disease that makes it difficult to move and breathe, and as such, she’s connected to a life support system that looks like a spider web. The clairvoyant character has precognitive abilities and once helped Spider-Man find a kidnap victim.

    Tom Holland in 'Spider-Man: Homecoming'
    Tom Holland in ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’

    She doesn’t sound like the basis for a compelling dynamic superhero movie… But wait! There’s more. As is so often the case with Marvel, there has been another version.

    When Webb died, she passed her powers on to Julia Carpenter, who was the second incarnation of Spider-Woman and similarly became the second version of Madame Web. It’s unclear which version the film will focus on, but given Johnson’s age in relation to both characters, you figure she’ll play Carpenter. Or both if they slap aging make-up on her initially.

    Sony originally announced the movie back in 2019, and it has moved through the tricky development process more smoothly (aside from obvious pandemic delays) than some of the company’s other planned Spider-projects. Aside from the successful ‘Into the Spider-Verse’ movie, which has spun-off two sequels (the first, ‘Across the Spider-Verse Part One’ is due out October 7, the second in 2023) and both ‘Venom’ films, Sony has had mixed fortunes with its Marvel movies.

    The Jared Leto-starring ‘Morbius’ has been delayed several times, while others, including ‘Silver and Black’ which was to have featured Silver Sable and Black Cat, are stuck at the script stage. Still, Sony has Olivia Wilde working on an untitled movie, and projects based on Kraven the Hunter and Silk still moving forward.

    ‘Madame Web’ doesn’t yet have a release date, but it does at least seem like it’ll shoot this year.

    Though Sony had been looking at a long list of names, Johnson jumped to the head of the queue likely thanks to strong work in ‘Lost Daughter’ and other movies that have received praise at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, including ‘Cha Cha Real Smooth’ and ‘Am I OK?’. She will next be seen in Jane Austen adaptation ‘Persuasion’, which will be out this year.

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  • Extended Cut of ‘Spider-Man: Far From Home’ Is Now Playing: Here’s a Sneak Peek

    Extended Cut of ‘Spider-Man: Far From Home’ Is Now Playing: Here’s a Sneak Peek

    Tom Holland in Spider-Man Far From Home
    Sony Pictures

    An extended cut of “Spider-Man: Far From Home” is now in theaters, with a whopping four new minutes of footage. (Hey, with the news that Spider-Man is leaving the MCU, we’ll take all the extra footage we can get.)

    The teaser, posted today to Twitter, gives us a  glimpse of the “new scenes and action sequences” including Peter (Tom Holland) operating a spider drone-bug and an extended cut of his fight in the Iron Spider suit.

    The extended cut of “Spider-Man: Far From Home” will play in select theaters through Labor Day in the U.S. and Canada, including 233 IMAX and large format locations.

    So far, “Spider-Man: Far From Home” has earned $380.2 million domestically and more than $1 billion worldwide. That makes it the highest-earning Sony film of all time.

    [Via Slashfilm]

  • Tom Holland, Kevin Feige Address ‘Spider-Man’ Divorce

    Tom Holland, Kevin Feige Address ‘Spider-Man’ Divorce

    Marvel Studios

    Sony and Marvel may be in the middle of a divorce over “Spider-Man” — but it’s an amicable one.

    Star Tom Holland, who has played the webslinger in five films (including “Spider-Man: Homecoming” and “Spider-Man: Far From Home“), spoke out about the split between the two companies at Disney’s D23 Expo over the weekend.

    “It’s been a crazy week,” he said, “but I want to let you know I’m grateful from the bottom of my heart. I love you 3,000.”

    Of course, that line is a reference to Iron Man aka Tony Stark from “Avengers: Endgame.”

    The previous deal between the two studios brought in Marvel Studios boss Kevin  Feige as the creative lead on Sony’s “Spider-Man” films in exchange for using the character in MCU movies like “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Captain America: Civil War.”

    Now that deal has come to an end, as both parties reportedly cannot agree on future financial terms. But there are no hard feelings, at least on the part of Holland and Feige. The actor is all set to continue on as Peter Parker.

    “Basically, we’ve made five great movies,” Holland told Entertainment Weekly. “It’s been five amazing years. I’ve had the time of my life. Who knows what the future holds? But all I know is that I’m going to continue playing Spider-Man and having the time of my life. It’s going to be so fun, however we choose to do it. The future for Spider-Man will be different, but it will be equally as awesome and amazing, and we’ll find new ways to make it even cooler.”

    As for Feige, he told EW, “I’m feeling about Spider-Man gratitude and joy. We got to make five films within the MCU with Spider-Man: two standalone films and three with the Avengers. It was a dream that I never thought would happen. It was never meant to last forever. We knew there was a finite amount of time that we’d be able to do this, and we told the story we wanted to tell, and I’ll always be thankful for that.”

    For more coverage from the D23 Expo 2019, click here!

  • Sony Publicly Responds to Marvel Divorce Over ‘Spider-Man’

    Sony Publicly Responds to Marvel Divorce Over ‘Spider-Man’

    Sony/Marvel

    Yesterday brought shocking reports that the partnership between Sony and Disney that brought “Spider-Man” into the Marvel Cinematic Universe is dissolving.

    Now, Sony has gone public about the divorce.

    The previous deal brought in Marvel Studios boss Feige as the creative lead on Sony’s “Spider-Man” films in exchange for using the character in MCU movies like “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Avengers: Endgame,”

    It seems Disney wanted to change the terms so that the studios split the financing and the profits 50-50 (versus a reported 5 percent that Disney got from “Spider-Man: Homecoming” and “Spider-Man: Far From Home“).

    The breakup ignited a furor across the land, so Sony Studios’ official Twitter account released a statement.

    “Much of today’s news about ‘Spider-Man’ has mischaracterized recent discussions about Kevin Feige’s involvement in the franchise. “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.”

    This recent “Spider-Man” reboot, starring Tom Holland , has been extremely successful for Sony. “Far From Home” topped $1 billion, and surpassed “Skyfall” to become Sony’s biggest release ever.

    But it’s unclear how or if Holland would continue as this version of the webslinger, considering how his background and story was interwoven into the MCU (particularly his connection to Iron Man).

  • Marvel Is Reportedly Done Making ‘Spider-Man’ Movies After Sony Money Dispute

    Marvel Is Reportedly Done Making ‘Spider-Man’ Movies After Sony Money Dispute

    Sony Pictures

    Marvel Studios and “Spider-Man” are once again parting ways.

    A new report from Deadline says that the partnership between Disney and Sony that finally united the webslinger with the Avengers — paving the way for hits including “Avengers: Infinity War,” “Avengers: Endgame,” “Spider-Man: Homecoming,” and “Spider-Man: Far From Home” — is effectively over, following a dispute over money. According to the trade, Disney was attempting to broker a new deal with Sony that would see both studios put up a 50-50 financial stake in future “Spider-Man” flicks (and essentially earn 50-50 in profits), rather than the reported 5 percent of first-dollar grosses it currently earns.

    But Deadline says Sony scoffed at that idea, and after Disney declined to keep the current terms of the partnership, the studios decided to part ways entirely. Now, Marvel Studios — and its chief and super producer, Kevin Feige — will no longer be involved in the “Spider-Man” franchise going forward, though star Tom Holland and director Jon Watts are still attached to two more movies featuring the hero.

    Deadline speculates that Sony simply didn’t want to share such a large piece of its most profitable franchise with Disney, and the studio does already have plans in place for a “Venom” sequel and several other spin-offs in the Spidey-verse. Just how successful those will be without the golden touch of Marvel Studios and Feige remains to be seen.

    [via: Deadline]