What can we expect from the Sony's Spider-Man Summit?

Well, here  we are again. and first and foremost let me wish you dear readers a Happy New year! I hope you all have a wonderful year in which all your dreams are met and goals are reached. I trust you all had a Great Christmas? or whatever celebration you had i sincerely hope it was one that you enjoyed to the fullest extent.

However now the time for celebration is over for now at least as we close in on the reported Sony Summit for what they plan for the Spider-Man franchise. At the time of writing it's still not known when the meeting between the Sony executives and Marvel will take place, we do know that it will be at some point this month with a possible announcement early in February Hopefully after contracts have been signed and details agreed but what can we expect?

Well after the huge hacking scandal at the tail end of last year. a number of revelations were revealed into the public domain regarding the future of the Spider-Man franchise. there were numerous reports of deals being suggested by Marvel Studios where collaborations between the two parties would see Spider-Man being brought into the Marvel Cinematic Universe via Captain America: Civil War. 

It was reported that e-mails were exchanged between the two studio's where Peter Parker would indeed feature within the storyline or at the very least make a cameo in the movie that would be based on one of Marvel Comics biggest events of recent years. It was further reported that Sony executives were strongly considering the deal on the table from Marvel that would see Marvel Studio's gain creative control of the character in a shared deal in which Sony pictures would be the sole distributor of future Spider-Man movies and the two companies would share the profits on a 60/40 basis. 

Originally this deal was brushed aside apparently by Sony who were at the time still strongly committed to producing a Sinister Six Movie helmed by Drew Goddard and also a stand alone Venom film. Since then it's known that the Venom movie is once again effectively dead in the water with no plans by Sony to move forward with plans to produce the movie about one of Spidey's biggest foes. 

What was established, during that time was the clear fact that Sony are fast running out of ideas on how to move the Spider-Man franchise forward and continue to reap adequate box office returns. After all it's no secret that The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is the worst performing film of the five that the studio have produced since 2002. 

Considering the reported production outlay of $255 million the returns domestically were very disappointing with a loss being made and only world wide returns halting the film from being an outright flop. Critically the movie is seen as one anyway and the fans are divided over the movie itself. I myself think it's one of the better Spider-Man films purely based on Spider-Man acting and behaving like Spider-Man. 

Sony however are worried. they see this franchise as their golden goose. and the goose appears to be showing signs of no longer laying the golden eggs. So it was no surprise to learn that a summit had been called to discuss the direction and future of the franchise and Sony's role in that future.

What was surprising was the news that Kevin Feige had been reportedly invited to attend the summit which is due to take place at Pinewood Studios, it was also surprising to learn that the previous deal that Sony had dismissed had been revisited by the two parties. It would appear then that Sony are so devoid of idea's going forward they are willing to at least entertain other avenues and differing directions in order to get the franchise back on track and to recoup the fans that they have lost. 

How I would love to be a fly or spider on the wall at the summit, to overhear what the discussions could entail. I primarily believe that it may well be too late to shoehorn Spider-Man into Civil War as it seems that filming begins on that movie in April, in Atlanta. Who's to say however that a post credit scene won't involve a certain wall-crawler? 

Given that by now Sony are surely aware of the current fan feelings, and the growing demand that a deal be made with Marvel Studio's to at least share the character. that they know it's probably in their best interests to explore that possibility. Sony have previously demonstrated they have no idea on what to do next with the property and i think that we'll hear that some compromise has been reached that will see the next Spider-Man movie be a collaboration between the two studios. Basically because i believe it's got to the point where if an announcement states that Sony' will be continuing on as the sole producer of Spider-Man films that there will be a major backlash which will only damage the franchise further. 

So my message to the Sony Executives would be this. Do the right thing, Do the Smart thing. work with Marvel it's in your companies best interest and will go a long way to restoring some faith that you have lost with the fans. more importantly I would love to hear that Avi Arad no longer is involved in this franchise. but lets just start with Sony and Marvel announcing together that Spider-Man is going home.

So what are your expectations from the Sony Summit? How do you see it going? do you think a deal will be struck or will we be forever burdened with Sony-Man?

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