The emotions of Spider-Man fans have been all over the place for the past month. Well, actually, that's not quite true, as most of them positively hated hearing that Sony and Marvel couldn't come to a new agreement over profit sharing when discussing terms for the upcoming threequel that is set to pick up where Spider-Man: Far From Home left off. As of this morning, though, the deal is back on, and things are moving ahead at a fast pace, seeing as director Jon Watts is now, officially, in talks to return to the blockbuster franchise.
When the Spider-Man deal between Marvel and Sony broke down on August 20, Jon Watts hadn't yet signed a deal to return to the franchise he helped take to billion dollar heights when Far From Home was released this summer, so he wasn't a total lock to return. In the days after the two companies parted ways, there was even talk that they were, possibly, fighting over Watts to see which studio could keep his filmmaking prowess on its side. Fortunately, having them band together again in the name of the almighty doll...I mean, Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, means that they now both get to keep him around.
That is, if Jon Watts is still on board the Spidey train (one could see him being a little gun shy right now). Deadline is hearing that it appears that the deal with Watts will be confirmed soon, with both companies waiting to finalize their co-financing for the third Spider-Man movie before reaching out to Jon Watts and getting him to sign all those dotted lines.
While it's possible that Jon Watts could say no, there's really no reason for him to at the moment. His first film for the Marvel / Sony project, Spider-Man: Homecoming, managed to revitalize the character's big screen story even though it was the third go-round of franchises for the teenaged web head. Homecoming did well with critics and audiences, pulling in $880 million worldwide, while Far From Home became Sony's highest grossing film ever with $1.13 billion worldwide. See all the good you've done, Jon Watts? Don't let us down, sir.
Of course, even without director Jon Watts at the helm, Spider-Man is now back on the road of continuity with the MCU, which is the main thing fans have been protesting and praying for since news of the Sony / Marvel split rang out. It would appear that Sony, in the process of developing its own Spidey-verse with films like Venom, its coming sequel, Morbius and several others, may have wanted to get some on-screen Peter Parker time, because part of today's announcement implied that Tom Holland's Spider-Man would show up somewhere in Sony's (currently Spidey-less) movies.
If Jon Watts returns to the franchise (and I certainly hope he does), it will continue to allay fears that everything that has been built for Spider-Man in the MCU since 2015 won't be wasted. It would also mark the third Spider-Man film franchise to round out its set of movies with the same director (with Sam Raimi and Mark Webb completing the others), and that's just a nice bit of symmetry that lovers of everyone's favorite spider-powered kid can enjoy.
Be sure to stay tuned to Cinemalend for the latest on the currently untitled Spider-Man: Far From Home sequel. In the meantime, be sure to check out what you can see on the big screen in the coming months with our 2019 new movie release schedule!
