In some unprecedented news today. SONY PICTURES has announced that after Andrew Garfield's contract (he's contracted to be Spidey at for one more film after The Amazing Spider Man 2) is fulfilled, Marvel Studios will have New York's friendly neighborhood Spider-Man back under the Marvel umbrella. Sung to the tune of $1.4 Billion with a 4.1% royalty for subsequent films that feature actors reprising their role from the Sony films. This feels like a small price to pay to bring Spidey back home.
In a recent statement by Sony Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton:
"While we wanted to retain the rights to the Spider-Man film franchise, we realize that this is a story that can only be told so many times. After Tobey Maguire played the iconic character, we feel that if we have to re-cast Spider-Man again after Andrew [Garfield]'s contract is up, we won't be living up to the expectations of the fans who followed these films. This is one of the reasons why we went forward with featuring so many villains in the sequel, we want to give the fans the biggest bang before we send Spider-Man back home."
Personally, I'm thrilled about this announcement and hopefully this is the first step to eventually realizing a film from Marvel Studios featuring the Civil War story arc. Andrew Garfield has stated that he has no clue whether he'll be involved with an Amazing Spider-Man 4 film, this all hinges on if Marvel Studios is interested in signing Garfield to another multi-picture deal and whether or not they want to pay the 4.1% royalty to Sony Pictures.
Kevin Feige, head of Marvel Studios said:
"Having Spidey back is absolutely cause for celebration here at the Marvel Studios' offices. We know the story has been told before, but we'd like to tell it from our perspective. Could we be planning a Civil War film? It's totally plausible, and even more so now that the web-slinger's come back."
Stay tuned for more on this story
