Spiderman is Back...with Sony

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The Spider-man relationship with Marvel and Sony is like a bad custody hearing. Marvel wants to split custody, and Sony is an unreasonable monster who won’t even grant visitation after learning Spider-man is a genius child. Okay, maybe an odd take, but Sony taking full control of their Spider-man property is quite interesting.

The Deal & Downfall

Originally, the Sony-Marvel deal was made in 2015 with Sony putting up 100% of the production costs. The film was essentially a Sony film with a Marvel coat of paint. Disney was receiving 5% “first-dollar” gross and 5% ticket sales, along with merchandising rights.

With this deal, Sony would get most of the box-office profits.

Then, Marvel wanted to renegotiate.

Marvel wanted to move the profit split closer to 50/50 and receive more from the property, which I believe was the real strain that made Sony take back Spider-man. However, Sony did outline their reasons with a full statement on Twitter.

If you want to read the full statement without the three-part breaks in Twitter:

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.

It is entirely possible that an agreement between Marvel and Sony can be made later to keep Spider-man in the MCU, but sadly this looks like Sony won’t be sharing anytime soon.

What’s Next?

Well, for Sony, they have a lot of options. They can continue the story created in “Far from Home” without other MCU characters, they can add Spider-man in a Vemon movie, and they can reboot Spider-man for the 100th time like they always seem to enjoy. Outside of bringing back Tobey Maguire, I don’t know if any of these options are great.

Putting Spider-man in a Venom movie could be a fun, comic book style adventure, but having Spider-man share the screen with Venom might be a tough task. Venom would have to be reverted to Bad Guy status at a time where his anti-hero status is just taking shape. That being said, it is there best move.

Any other decision would be difficult to entice fans to come and see it, especially at the billion-dollar levels Spider-man had just reached. Spider-man is a fan favorite regardless of MCU branding, but Spider-man definitely grew faster and was arguably more beloved under Marvel’s direction.

Another point to be made is the lack of information on returning cast and director. Jon Watts, director of the last two Spider-man films, is not confirmed to return for the next Spider-man movie. Only Tom Holland is confirmed to return, but even that might be suspect if they don’t start production soon.

The 3rd Spider-man film is in the works with early writing work, but a lot can happen from now until pre-production and production rolls around. I can’t foresee what will happen next for the Spider-man franchise, but I hope Sony learned from their time working with Kevin Feige and Marvel on how to create compelling, character-driven narratives that keeps Spider-man’s universe fresh and full of life.

Website Update:

I recently noticed my website was down due to some email issues. I have since fixed it and it should be working well. I will also need to fix my Twitter account a bit as well, so please leave comments below for any questions.

-J.J.

Avengers: Infinity War - The BIGGEST Movie Of The Year

Marvel is going all out for this movie and it will be the biggest movie of the year. Not much of a statement if you are a fan of the Marvel movies or have been semi-conscious in the comic book world. The movie was literally the biggest when they first announced the cast.

CAST:

If anyone remembers those Expendable movie trailers where they just list action star after action star, it's like that, except triple the size. All of the characters from the last 10 years are returning from Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man to Chadwick Boseman's Black Panther. Along with the returning characters will get to see new heroes and villains as well (I won't say who in case you'll like surprises). Knowing there is these many actors in one movie, many of them award winners, it's bound to be cameo bonanza. 

If you are interested in a list of the cast, you can click the button below.

So, the cast size is massive. But, what about the run-time?

RUN-TIME:

The movie currently clocks in at a Lord of the Rings level TWO HOURS AND 40 MINUTES! Yes, I yelled when I heard about it. Why? Because it's the longest Marvel movie in the collective Marvel Universe and if the Russo Brothers are telling the truth, Avengers 4 will be even longer.

To give it a bit more perspective, here are a few movies that can claim to be that long:

1. Watchmen (2hrs 43min)
2. Troy (2hrs 43min)
3. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2hrs 41min)
4. Avatar (2hrs 40min)
5. Dark Knight Rises (2hrs 45min)
6. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2hrs 41min)
7. Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2hrs 32min)

*NOTE: The Lord of Rings and Hobbit movies are all longer.

The run-time of this movie is setting Avengers: Infinity War up to become a true epic. Now we have a large cast size and a long run-time. Outside of those visible factors, what makes this movie the biggest movie of the year? One word: Anticipation

The press tours, the trailers, the overall hype of seeing every after-credit sequence finally coming together is mind boggling. To think, 10 years ago, there was going to be this expanded universe that would get to this boiling point of epic action is incredible. 

The only other movie franchise that can garner this amount of attention is probably Star Wars and Star Wars took arguably longer to reach the same heights as Marvel is at today. This movie has the potential to create what movie theaters have been desperately lacking to bring people in as well. Marvel is making this movie not just a movie, but an event. It takes a tremendous amount of effort to create enough anticipation for fans and non-fans to be interested in anything. However, the level of anticipation built up over the years will make this movie a grand event for fans and catapult the film to the prestigious status of biggest movie of the year. Some early positive reactions, like here and here, also help too!

I for one can't wait for Friday to see a both a conclusion of one timeline and the beginning of a new era of superheroes. Movie drops on April 27th, but you should already know that.

-- J.J.

P.S.  Venom trailer just dropped yesterday as well, so check it out below: 

How Black Panther Can Change The World

It's pretty hard not to know about Black Panther coming to theaters this week. There have been numerous articles about Black Panther and its timely inclusion into the Marvel movie series from both a cultural and political perspective. There have been numerous articles in the news talking about its importance, like this one, and this one, oh and this one. 

I have no doubt this movie will be great, not just from an entertainment perspective, but as game changer in creating films and stories in general. Before I dive in, I want to give you some quick comic book history on Black Panther.

Black Panther: Quick Facts

• Black Panther was originally created in July, 1966 (Fantastic Four #52).
• It wasn't until 1973 that Black Panther was finally featured as the main hero (Jungle Action #5).
• The title of Black Panther is not only a hereditary title of the ruling chief of Wakanda, but also one that must be earned through trials. 
• Black Panther was created before the Black Panther Party (no relation from my understanding).
• Wakanda is a technologically advanced, but fictional African nation...or is it?

To learn more about the history of Black Panther, click that giant button below:

The Game Changer:

Black Panther has an enormous opportunity to do something quite unique. It can change the way we look at films from both a means of representation in film, and how we craft stories that engage audiences. Representation has been an often talked about issue in the film industry. From women behind the camera and directing to proper representation of culture in movies about history, people seem to want more accurate representation. Even in fiction, not every character is a white hero brandishing oversized weapons in an effort to save the world, while a "minority" character is merely a sidekick that clings to the coattails of the hero's successes. 

While oversimplified, that is changing in the US. Not just in films, but stories in general. Books like, "The Hate U Give,"  and "Pachinko" show different perspectives and cultural views of the world. Sure, neither of these books have the above action as mentioned, but shows how the world view of story is diverse and increasingly less singularized. Black Panther is going to be a story that will also touch on difficult situations that draw similarities to issues the United States has been dealing with for a long time. What this story could do is not only improve dialogue among people across cultures, ideas, and identities, but create new stories in the process. 

Sharing ideas, combining them to create stories (fictional or otherwise) that engage people in the world is something I hope grows and continues. I like seeing different stories and it seems like this may be a unique story I may not have heard before. Even reading the synopsis of past Black Panther stories really show how much I still need to learn about Black Panther and his adventures. 

Black Panther could be a really great movie, not just because of its iconic character(s) or its historical first for a major blockbuster film celebrating African culture, but for its ability to potentially cross borders and bridge an understanding between people in way, that I believe, sometimes only stories can do.

Don't Forget: Black History Month

It may be halfway through the month, but never to late to learn! I can't educate people on Black history or its importance in our society as well as others. There are so many people more knowledgeable than me. But, I feel like I would be remiss if I didn't provide at least a few options for people to learn on their own. The first link is from History.com page that has a few resources, but definitely less than I thought there would be. I also found another website hosted by the Library of Congress. If you want to learn even more, seek out the information. There are probably plenty resources in your own local community as well.

Please let me know what you think of this article in the comments or on Twitter. I am somewhat concerned that you can't actually comment while I was looking through past blog posts, so please let me know on Twitter or email. Also, no spoliers on Black Panther. I can't make it out to theaters until probably Monday. 

-J.J.