Disney And The Business Of Spiderman

Amazing Spiderman Movie Poster - Sony Pictures

So the amazing Spiderman 2 came out on video this week. Since I didn't make it to the theaters to see the movie, the good folks at Wal-Mart were only too happy to provide me with a copy at nominal price. So now I get to rehash just what Spiderman has to do with Disney since Spiderman is made by Sony Pictures even though the web slinger is a Marvel character and probably Marvel's single most valuable property. Sounds complicated. It is and it isn't.

As far as movies go, Spiderman made by Sony Pictures by license agreement with Marvel Entertainment which Disney owns. Disney gets a cut off profits off every Spiderman movie even though Sony takes home most of the money. The same is true of X-Men, Wolverine, and Fantastic Four which are produced by Fox through a licensing agreement with Marvel. These license agreements were in place before Disney bought Marvel and as the story goes, as long as Sony and Fox continue to turn out Marvel quality superhero movies on a regular basis, the licensing stays in place and Sony and Fox continue to make movies. One slip up and Disney lawyers will only be too happy to take the properties back. Either that or Disney shells out the big buck to buy back the licenses which they are not inclined to do since by Disney CEO's own admission "we have more than enough Marvel characters to work with already".

Still the hope is out there that a true Marvel/Disney Spiderman movie will be made some day. That would be a movie that would set box office records on fire.