It’s learned that Tom Rothman has replaced Amy Pascal and has been named the head of Sony’s motion picture group.
We’re not sure if or how this will affect plans for the new Spider-Man, but for comic book movie fans, red flags should be going off.
Rothman was recently said to have been let go from Fox due to a lackluster performance, with Rothman said to have interfered in the production of X-Men Origins: Wolverine without the director’s knowledge and apparently was also responsible for blocking the Deadpool movie (see below). Rothman was also behind X-Men: The Last Stand.
Regarding Spider-Man, Amy Pascal is spearheading the new direction as part of a new Sony venture production wing, so it’s possible Rothman’s input may be minimal. In addition, Marvel’s Kevin Feige is onboard as producer.
The Amazing Spider-Man movies ran into problems when the producers didn’t care much for director Marc Webb’s input, which obviously led to the current situation. Hopefully, history isn’t going to repeat itself with Rothman.
Deadpool creator Rob Liefeld isn’t a fan and tweeted the following about the Rothman news:
Tom Rothman single handedly kept Deadpool from getting made at Fox. Not a fan. Scratches Sony off the list….
— robertliefeld (@robertliefeld) February 24, 2015
Rothman was shown the door years back, the improved quality of X-Men films is a result of his absence.
— robertliefeld (@robertliefeld) February 24, 2015
There was a period in the mid 2000’s where the trades did stories on how cheap Fox was & how they had no director relationships.Tom Rothman
— robertliefeld (@robertliefeld) February 24, 2015
— robertliefeld (@robertliefeld) February 24, 2015