We could be saying goodbye to Spider-Man in the MCU if Far From Home doesn’t make a billion dollars at the box office.
According to what is being said is a credible rumor, if Spider-Man: Far From Home doesn’t make a billion dollars at the box office, Sony can pull out of its contract with Disney.
According to journalist Richard Rushfield’s entertainment industry newsletter, The Ankler (via Slash Film), when Sony and Disney signed their deal for Spider-Man to appear in the MCU, which extended Sony’s film rights and gave merchandising rights to Disney, a stipulation was that a Spider-Man movie needs to make a billion dollars in order for Sony to stay in the contract.
Rushfield actually took to Twitter to state his source is “very important and knowledgeable.”
Someone very important and knowledgeable. Very!
— Richard Rushfield – (@richardrushfield) July 9, 2019
Spider-Man needs to make a billion dollars
So what this apparently means is that since Spider-Man: Homecoming didn’t make a billion, Spider-Man: Far From Home has to make a billion, otherwise a third Spider-Man MCU movie may not get made and Sony can pull out of their contract.
Tom Holland did also reveal back in 2016 that his Marvel contract was for three Spider-Man appearances and three films; he’s fulfilled the appearances with Captain America: Civil War, Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame; so that means he has one more solo Spidey movie left.
To be clear, assuming this info is legit, that doesn’t mean Sony will pull out of their contract if Spider-Man: Far From Home doesn’t hit a billion, just that they have the option.
Spider-Man: Far From Home already close to a billion
While the news may be a bit worrisome for Feige’s MCU fans, the good news is that Spider-Man: Far From Home has already passed a half billion dollars at the box office and is now closing in on $600 million after only being in release for seven days or so. Homecoming did finish with just over $880 million, so there is at least a small cause for concern.
Regarding Sony requiring an MCU Spider-man movie hitting a billion dollars, they obviously wanted some sort of control and a potential way out if Kevin Feige and Marvel didn’t come through in a way that made them happy. Interestingly enough, there has actually been a rumor that Sony and Marvel butted heads over Far From Home and The Avengers: Endgame, as Keige didn’t want another movie released so quickly after Endgame, but Sony wanted a Homecoming sequel ASAP.
It is also possible the Sony Disney deal could have been changed or even that the two studios could sign a new deal, though former head of Sony and producer Amy Pascal did say that is unlikely.
“One of the things that I think is so amazing about this experience is that you don’t have studios deciding to work together to make a film very often,” Pascal said back in 2017. “In fact, it may never happen again–after we do the sequel.”
Spider-Man back at Sony with Venom
Lately, there has also been talk of pairing Spider-Man with Tom Hardy’s Venom, with Kevin Feige confirming it is likely to happen, but that it will be under Sony and not a part of the MCU.
I would also assume that since Tom Holland has signed on with Sony for the Uncharted franchise that he would continue to play Spider-Man in Sony’s Spider-Man spinoff universe (confirmed by Pascal), which would basically just ignore anything related to the MCU, similar to how Marvel Studios never references any of Marvel TV Netflix shows and characters (and vice versa).
Again this might not be all bad news if the rumor is legit, as Spider-Man: Far From Home is a pretty good movie and looks to have legs at the box office. Who knows? Marvel could always rerelease it with bonus footage to get it to a billion dollars if it comes up short, similar to how they released The Avengers: Endgame. And if the rumor isn’t true? What a brilliant strategy to get MCU fans to “save Spider-Man” by seeing Far From Home multiple times.
