Exclusive: Disney Considering Buyout Of Sony For Spider-Man Characters
We've exclusively learned that Disney is on Sony about acquiring Spider-Man rights.
This article is more than 2 years old
In recent years, Disney has been doing its best to acquire the rights to all the characters from the Marvel comics that it can. We’ve seen this in action when they acquired all the rights to the Marvel characters on Netflix. This has some people scratching their heads when it comes to Spider-Man. While Tom Holland’s character is in the Disney-owned Marvel Cinematic Universe, his contract ends with Spider-Man: No Way Home. Meanwhile, Sony is building out their own Marvel world with Spider-Man comics characters in upcoming movies like Kraven the Hunter and Venom 2. Now, with both studios developing their franchises, we have been curious about what’s happening between the two. We’ve now learned from one of our trusted and proven inside sources that Disney is exploring buying Sony to get Spider-Man and all his characters under their own umbrella.
We were unable to learn the specifics of what Disney is offering Sony. At this point, they are exploring what it is they’ll have to do. This is something the two companies have explored in the past, and are now inevitably revisiting. This makes sense considering that Sony is likely very reluctant to give up their Spider-Man rights.
It sounds like Disney is possibly offering to buy out Spider-Man rights, or buy Sony’s film division, although our source said they are considering buying Sony, which doesn’t rule out a merger/acquisition. Keep in mind that Sony, as a company, is very large and has a large hold in gaming. This will also complicate any deal the two companies settle on since Sony owns a lot of Spider-Man games, as well as other properties. If Disney manages to make a deal with Sony for Spider-Man and the surrounding characters, that deal is going to be very complicated and many pages long in the end.
What will Disney have to do in order to get full rights to the Spider-Man characters currently in Sony’s hands? Moreover, what will Disney be willing to do to secure this part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe? The studio has made huge moves in recent years, acquiring Fox in a deal that cost them plenty. Back in 2019, Disney and Sony weren’t happy with each other when they tried to sort this out. At the time, Geekosity claimed to hear that Disney was considering a deal of $4 to $5 billion to purchase Spider-Man rights. Of course, that was pre-pandemic and didn’t end up with a satisfactory conclusion in the end. Where the two companies are at now, in terms of what Disney is willing to offer and what Sony sees as worth their time, is likely a very different place.
If Disney does get the rights to Spider-Man characters, through whatever sort of deal they eventually manage, the benefits for the Marvel Cinematic Universe are pretty clear. Spider-Man has been a big hit for Disney in theaters. Audiences love Tom Holland in the role. They’ve already established his character interacting with the other characters in the Marvel movies, but he could have a bigger role if Disney felt sure about owning his rights into the future. He could lead his own team of characters if something like that were to happen. However, how will Disney make a quality offer that’s in Sony’s interest? That’s the issue they’ve been up against all along. We’ll see how far Disney is willing to go this time around.
