Spider-Man: Far From Home is Sony's biggest movie of all-time when it comes to the box office. However, the studio isn't quite done running up the score, as the film will be hitting theaters this weekend in a special re-release that will include additional footage that wasn't in the previous cut. However, following the news that the Marvel/Sony partnership has come to an end, a lot of fans are being vocally critical of this move.
Replies to the movie's Twitter account promoting the film are filled with some very angry people claiming they won't be supporting the re-release following the spat with Marvel Studios.
Spider-Man is the one major Marvel Comics character that Marvel Studios doesn't have the film rights to. Sony has had those rights for years and has continued making Spider-Man movies in one form or another in order to ensure that the studio keeps them. However, following the success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the two companies built a partnership where Marvel's Kevin Feige co-produced Sony's Spider-Man movies and Marvel was able to use the same character in its projects as well.
One report claims that Marvel was looking for a larger financial stake in the next Spider-Man films, and Sony balked. Others state that Kevin Feige is simply too busy with other things and doesn't have the time to continue working on projects that aren't run by Disney. Whatever the reason, as things stand now, Spider-Man: Far From Home is the last movie in which we'll see this version of Spider-Man connected to the MCU.
While it's far from clear whose "fault" the spider-split really is, most of the comments on the tweet are focused on attacking Sony, feeling that the company's apparent decision to walk away from negotiations was the wrong move.
Theatrical re-releases are a rare thing in the age of Blu-ray discs and streaming services, but it seems that studio's may have found a new way to bolster a film's box office take. Avengers: Endgame did it earlier this summer and the move helped boost the film into the number one position on the all-time box office charts.
It seems that Sony was taking notes and has decided to follow suit. Of course, while Twitter fury isn't something that generally reflects the world at large, one does have to wonder if this recent news will have an unfortunate impact on the re-release idea. Several of the angry replies come from people claiming that, while they would have gone to see the movie again, they don't want to support what's happening with the character.
We certainly haven't heard the end of this story. The possibility that a deal could still be worked out is always out there, and we know we will continue to get Spider-Man movies, whether or not they're part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
