There have been many, many reports lately about
what Sony Pictures may or may not be doing
with its Spider-Man franchise after the
disappointment of The Amazing Spider-Man 2,
but now we have some clarity on what has
actually been discussed and what’s definitely in
the works, albeit under some pretty lousy
circumstances. Sony has been the target of a
very aggressive and incredibly damaging attack
from a hacker group that’s now demanding the
studio not release The Interview in theaters later
this month, and today some internal emails from
the studio were released online as a result of
said attack.
We will not be publishing any of the emails here,
but the folks at the Wall Street Journal did some
digging after seeing that some of the emails
revealed Sony and Marvel definitely did have
discussions about teaming up on new Spider-Man
films. Moreover, an animated Spider-Man
comedy is in development from The LEGO Movie
directors/geniuses Phil Lord and Chris Miller .
More after the jump.
Per The Wall Street Journal , discussions in some
of the released emails reveal that there were
serious talks between executives at Sony and
Marvel about coming to some sort of deal on
sharing the Spider-Man character. One such
scenario involved a new Marvel-produced trilogy
of Spider-Man movies that would see Sony retain
“creative control, marketing and distribution.”
Marvel Studios was apparently very keen on the
idea, as they were hoping to include the Spider-
Man character in the third Captain America film,
Captain America: Civil War , which is set to co-
star Robert Downey Jr. and introduce Chadwick
Boseman’s Black Panther.
WSJ reports that talks between Marvel and Sony
eventually broke down and Sony is now moving
forward with its own Spider-Man slate, but man,
it sounds like the two were thisclose to a deal.
Perhaps Black Panther’s role in Captain America:
Civil War might have been filled by Spider-Man
instead? But then would Marvel have recast the
character or kept Andrew Garfield , who’s been so
incredibly good as Peter Parker despite Sony’s
films themselves being underwhelming? Alas, it
looks like the question is now moot.
While a deal between Sony and Marvel is off the
table for now, WSJ adds that in addition to the
Spider-Man spinoffs Sinister Six , Venom, and a
movie focusing on “ the women in the
webslinger’s life ”, Sony is developing an
animated Spider-Man comedy that would be
produced by Chris Miller and Phil Lord. Lord and
Miller are, of course, two of the most exciting
filmmakers working in the business today, and
between The LEGO Movie , 21 Jump Street & 22
Jump Street , and Cloudy with a Chance of
Meatballs, they’ve made a career out of turning
bad ideas into great films.
As this information comes from hacked internal
emails at Sony there’s still no official
confirmation about this Lord and Miller-produced
Spider-Man cartoon, but that sounds like a
dynamite prospect that would actually give me
some semblance of hope for Sony’s current plans
for the character. Forget live-action spinoffs and
sequels, this is the Spider-Man I want to see.
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