Rumor: Disney might buy Spider-Man from Sony for $4-5 billion

[Spider-Chan]

Money down the drain and a bad business move. Disney already owns what is lucrative about Spider-Man why would they waste money on owning the movie rights?

The only way I see Disney potentially opening the checkbook is if Sony does indeed end up being bought up by Apple and they offer Disney the possibility of acquiring him earlier so some high execs could get some extra cash before a total merging.

Either then, I doubt Disney would offer more than a billion for him. Heck, I doubt they paid more than 500 million.

[Celgress]

1) Money which largely went to Sony.

2) Of those billion, only $390mn is from US grosses which is the lion's share of the movie's actual profitability. International grosses have all kinds of asterisks and stuff attached to it depending on the market. In terms of US grosses, FFH made less than Raimi's Spider-Man 1.

3) Disney/Marvel already have many billion dollar grossing movies like Black Panther, Captain Marvel, and the Avengers movies. And in those cases, most of the profits come from US grosses. Ergo, their billion dollars means more than FFH's.

Yeah, but surely they want more billion-dollar movies and Spidey usually does well at the box office. He is a safe bet. I'd go for it if I were in charge of Disney, assuming the price is reasonable.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

Yeah, but surely they want more billion-dollar movies and Spidey usually does well at the box office.

Of course Disney want Spider-Man movie rights back. But while the $1bn worldwide grosses for another studio is enough to make them angry/frustrated with Sony to break off the deal until a renegotiation (which happened recently). It isn't enough to make them desperate to give an amount equal to what they paid for Lucasfilm for what is the movie rights to a character whose merchandise rights they own.

FFH isn't successful enough relatively speaking to justify that kind of desperation. This isn't Titanic or Avatar level success. It's remarkable sure but in the context...in a time when freaking Aquaman made $1bn (of which $333mn is US grosses so even that isn't very impressive, as compared to Wonder Woman which made $412mn, higher just a little higher than its $409mn international grosses)...this isn't enough to justify such a desperate move.

[Chris0013]

And they would make that money back quick.

[Tofali]

And they would make that money back quick.

After how many Spiderman movies?

[leo619]

Most of this sounds not true and made up to an extent

Both Kevin Feige talking about how he was concerned about if Far From Home was up to snuff to hang with Into The Spider Verse and Disney wanting input in Sony's Spider Films can both be found by just doing a quick google source, so you assuming that doesn't sound true is just your ignorance.

[Chris0013]

After how many Spiderman movies?

Not just Spider-Man movies...even if they don't put up a $1B take....Marvel movies still tend to do well. Make a Black Cat movie....see what that would pull down.

[Arsenal]

Disney bought all of Star Wars for 4 billion.

I highly doubt Disney would drop the same amount just to get Spidey’s movie rights.

[Bloxer]

Both Kevin Feige talking about how he was concerned about if Far From Home was up to snuff to hang with Into The Spider Verse and Disney wanting input in Sony's Spider Films can both be found by just doing a quick google source, so you assuming that doesn't sound true is just your ignorance.

The fact you won't provide a source just makes it sounds even more made up.

[HypnoHustler]

I’m torn. I want live-action Spider-Man to stay in the MCU.
But I very much like Sony’s ‘Into the Spider-verse’ and look forward to more installments of that.
Anyway, I bet this rumor is Bravo Sierra. I’ve never even heard of this ‘Geekosity.’

[WebLurker]

I'm not worrying about it until we get actual confirmation that there is a deal that was struck or rejected.

[Somecrazyaussie]

Yeah, I'll believe it when I see it. You can't buy something if it isn't for sale and Sony seems determined to hold onto the Spidey film rights for as long as possible. On the other hand, everything has a price. Just a matter of finding out how much.

As others have postulated Disney automatically regain the film rights if Sony is bought out by another company. So the smart move would be to hold out for that to happen and get the rights back for free. Disney already has the Spidey rights that really count: merchandising. Spider-man is the third most recognizable superhero worldwide after Batman and Superman. They reap billions of dollars annually from that alone.

The only way I see Disney parting with that kind of money is in order to get Spider-man back as soon as possible. We may not think the film rights are enough to recoup the cost of purchase, but Spider-man related characters make up a universe of its own and Venom (questionable quality aside) proves they are an untapped goldmine.

Sony executives might also be open to selling them off in order to turn a profit while they can. If they are bought out, those rights automatically return return to Disney and Sony gets nothing. Better to offload before any buyout and get two windfalls instead of one. The name of the game is making money after all.

I also think Disney wants to avoid another negotiation fiasco like what happened recently. Something that turned ugly quickly and earned a backlash from the fan base (for Sony and Disney both).

[NC_Yankee]

The only way I see Disney potentially opening the checkbook is if Sony does indeed end up being bought up by Apple and they offer Disney the possibility of acquiring him earlier so some high execs could get some extra cash before a total merging.

Either then, I doubt Disney would offer more than a billion for him. Heck, I doubt they paid more than 500 million.

Why would Disney buy Spider-Man? Because there are very few "Tentpole" franchises not owned by Disney, Warner Bros/AT&T or Universal/Comcast, so you want to have them. James Bond is one who comes to mind, same for film libraries of companies like MGM/UA ( which has James Bond and Rocky). By buying Spider-Man they would also get stuff like Miles and Venom, and competitors will not. That is why Warner Bros spend years trying to get the Adventures of Superman and Batman TV series. Keeping them away from competitors.

[Digifiend]

If Sony Pictures is sold off, or Sony as a whole gets taken over, then the Spidey movie rights go back to Disney for free. There's no logic to them paying anything for them.

MGM went bust in 2010. If Disney wanted to buy it, that would've been their chance to get it on the cheap. Instead, the bosses of Spyglass Entertainment rescued it. If someone was to buy MGM now, it would probably be either CBS-Viacom (Paramount's owner), or AT&T (Warner's owner) as most of their films are co-financed by one of those two or Sony.

[NC_Yankee]

If Sony Pictures is sold off, or Sony as a whole gets taken over, then the Spidey movie rights go back to Disney for free. There's no logic to them paying anything for them.

MGM went bust in 2010. If Disney wanted to buy it, that would've been their chance to get it on the cheap. Instead, the bosses of Spyglass Entertainment rescued it. If someone was to buy MGM now, it would probably be either CBS-Viacom (Paramount's owner), or AT&T (Warner's owner) as most of their films are co-financed by one of those two or Sony.

From what I have heard Viacom is interested in Lionsgate/Starz not MGM. Since Amazon is getting more and more in the entertainment business, Sony's Columbia Pictures ( and film library) makes sense ( something that would NOT please Disney). As far as other film libraries are concerned, I know one of the primary reasons why Disney bought Fox was the film library, and I could see Warner and Universal splitting up MGM, with Warner getting back Warner Titles MGM owns and the Rocky series and Bond and the rest going to Universal.