Spider-Man No More?

This is an analysis in which I will try to explain how has been the very difficult and painful way of taking the most emblematic figure of Marvel to the big screen, you know, to understand the present and prepare for the future, we must understand the past. To understand the past I’m going to support myself in a very good analysis made by the expert of the comics history (and some gossips) Alberto Calvo (you can follow him on Twitter @albion2112) Alberto made an analysis called “Spider-Man y su enmaraÃ±ado camino a la gran pantalla” (Click here if you want to view the post) where it explains in detail why Sony Pictures is the one who owns the rights to the arachnid and not Marvel/Disney and also why it has become so complicated the Spidey’s homecoming.

In the crazy 70s Spidey saw light for the first time in Television with a short-lived series called “Spider-Man”, it had a modest success and even had two Blockbuster episodes, the first serious attempt to take the Friendly Neighborhood to the theaters was in the middle of the eighties, this would be from the hand of Roger Corman, Stan Lee thought he could make a faithful adaptation of the hero, however Corman’s ideas were different and without agreement the project never got to see the light of day. Another opportunity would come later with Cannon Films but Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus’s knowledge about comics was… None, zero, nothing, let’s say that they thought Spider-Man was a guy with eight legs on his body and throwing web through his ~~ass~~.

Shortly after other many attempts, in the mid-90’s there would be a very serious opportunity at the hands of M.G.M. with James Cameron as Director, but his script (which you can read here) has many radical changes in the main character: Peter Parker and the villains, fortunately financial troubles prevented this version from being made. These financial troubles (bankruptcy) made Spider-Man’s rights went from Carolco to Columbia, for those things of destiny, a company would produce a Spider-Man and James Bond movies for Columbia while M.G.M. would also be preparing another two films of the same franchises (James Bond and Spider-Man) a franchise exchange agreement would make Columbia keep the rights of Spidey, then Columbia would be part of Sony Pictures and the rest is history.

Having clear why Sony Pictures has the Spidey rights (and they do not want to release him) let’s analyze the situation presented now, as many of Us knows, Sony Pictures with Spider-Man reaches the Nirvana, three movies with Tobey Maguire and a reboot with Andrew Garfield would give Sony Pictures very good earnings, the Raimi trilogy had a box office of 800 million dollars each movie and the others starred by Garfield would have a box office between 700 and 600 million each, not bad, but there are costs, production costs, marketing costs and other expenses, receiving Sony Pictures a net profit of around 200 and 100 million dollars, making Sony Pictures very close to losing money, then this alliance between Sony and Marvel/Disney would arrive where basically they left Marvel/Disney the participation of Spider-Man in Civil War and Avengers in addition to the co-production of Homecoming and Far From Home with some Sony Pictures limitations, for example only few MCU characters would participate in the Spidey solo movies. As half humanity knows the movies were a great success becoming the highest grossing in the history of Sony Pictures, however there are differences between the way to manage costs by each party, these differences caused what many called “divorce” between Marvel/Disney and Sony Pictures, I have read several articles among them this written by Mark Hughes for Forbes (you can read it here) is in my opinion the most accurate because it talk about what everyone in the business wants: Numbers and not the opinion of few hot headed fans asking for Tom Rotham’s oil-fried head, Hughes concludes that it is too early to talk about divorce and is optimistic to think that an eventual agreement between the parties will come, Hughes (who thanks Crom is a Spider-Man fan) evaluates a lot of things, Sony Pictures knows that making movies costs a lot, the last time it almost cost their profits, the fact that Raimi’s trilogy has been a box office doesn’t mean that everything went cool for Sony Pictures, so they need financial muscle and Disney it’s very very good making money, even Hughes goes to the extreme by predicting a possible merge or purchase of Sony Pictures with some other company so the entire Spider-Verse would be left to Marvel/Disney, in conclusion: don’t despair!!! put down the torches and tridents, It is very likely that there is a future for Spider-Man in the MCU, who knows? Maybe we will see many Spider-Verse characters in coming MCU movies.

EspaÃ±ol

Este es un pequeÃ±o anÃ¡lisis en el que tratarÃ© de explicar lo que ha sido el drama de llevar a la figura mÃ¡s emblemÃ¡tica de Marvel hacia la gran pantalla, ya saben para entender el presente y prepararnos al futuro, debemos entender el pasado. Para entender el pasado voy a basarme en un muy buen anÃ¡lisis hecho por el gran conocedor de la historia del cÃ³mic (y algunos chismes) Alberto Calvo (pueden seguirlo en Twitter @albion2112) Alberto hizo un anÃ¡lisis llamado “Spider-Man y su enmaraÃ±ado camino a la gran pantalla” y pueden leerlo acÃ¡ donde explica de forma detallada el porquÃ© es Sony Pictures quien posee los derechos del arÃ¡cnido y no Marvel/Disney y ademÃ¡s porquÃ© se ha vuelto tan complicado el regreso a casa de Spidey.

En los locos aÃ±os 70 Spidey viÃ³ luz por primera vez en la TelevisiÃ³n con una serie de corta duraciÃ³n llamada “Spider-Man” (realmente no pensaron mucho el nombre) tuvo un Ã©xito modesto e incluso tuvo dos episodios que fueron tipo Blockbuster, el primer intento serio por llevar al Friendly Neighborhood fue a mediados de los 80, esto serÃa de la mano de Roger Corman, Stan Lee pensÃ³ que podrÃa hacer una fiel adaptaciÃ³n del hÃ©roe, sin embargo las ideas de Corman eran otras y sin acuerdo el proyecto nunca llego a ver la luz del dÃa. Otra oportunidad vendrÃa luego con Cannon Films pero el conocimiento de Menahem Golan y Yoram Globus sobre cÃ³mics era, digamos… Ninguno, cero, nada y pensaron que Spider-Man era un tipo con ocho patas en su cuerpo echando telaraÃ±a por… Bueno ya saben por dÃ³nde.

Poco tiempo despuÃ©s y luego de otros intentos, a mediados de los 90’s vendrÃa una muy seria oportunidad de mano de MGM con nada mas y nada menos que James Cameron como Director, pero su guiÃ³n (que pueden leer acÃ¡) iba un poco fuera de lo que significa Spider-Man, habÃan radicales cambios en el personaje principal Peter Parker y en los villanos, afortunadamente apuros financieros evitaron que esta versiÃ³n se llegara a realizar. Estos apuros financieros (bancarrota) hicieron que los derechos de Spider-Man en manos de Carolco pasaran a Columbia, por esas cosas del destino, una productora harÃa un pelÃcula de Spider-Man y otra de James Bond para Columbia mientras que por otro lado MGM estarÃa tambien preparando dos peliculas de las mismas franquicias (James Bond y Spider-Man) un acuerdo de intercambio de franquicias harÃa que Columbia se quedara con los derechos de Spidey, luego Columbia serÃa parte de Sony Pictures y el resto es historia.

Teniendo claro el porquÃ© Sony tiene a Spidey (y no quiere soltarlo) analicemos la situaciÃ³n presentada ahora, como bien saben Sony con Spider-Man probÃ³ las mieles del Ã©xito, tres peliculas con Tobey Maguire y un reboot con Andrew Garfield darÃan a Sony Pictures ganancias decentes, la trilogÃa de Raimi tuvo una taquilla que pasÃ³ los 800 millones de dÃ³lares cada pelÃcula y la protagonizada por Garfield tendrÃa taquilla entre los 700 y 600 millones por cada pelÃcula, nada mal, pero existen costos, costos de producciÃ³n, costos de marketing y otros gastos, recibiendo Sony unas ganancias netas alrededor de los 200 y 100 millones, es decir, ya estaban muy cerca de perder dinero, luego llegarÃa esta alianza entre Sony y Marvel/Disney donde bÃ¡sicamente dejaban a Marvel/Disney la participaciÃ³n de Spider-Man en Civil War y Avengers ademÃ¡s de la co-producciÃ³n de Homecoming y Far From Home con algunas limitantes de Sony, por ejemplo solo participarÃan pocos personajes del MCU en las solo movies de Spidey. Como media humanidad sabe las pelÃculas fueron un gran Ã©xito convirtiÃ©ndose en las mÃ¡s taquilleras en la historia de Sony Pictures, sin embargo hay diferencias entre el manejo de los costos por cada parte, estas diferencias provocaron lo que muchos llamaron “divorcio” entre Marvel/Disney y Sony Pictures, he leÃdo varios artÃculos entre ellos este escrito por Mark Hughes para Forbes (pueden leerlo acÃ¡) el cual considero el mÃ¡s aterrizado ya que hablan de lo que todo el mundo de los negocios quiere: NÃºmeros y cifras y no la opiniÃ³n de fans que piden la cabeza frita en aceite de Tom Rotham, Hughes concluye que es muy temprano para hablar de divorcio y es optimista en pensar que un eventual acuerdo entre las partes llegarÃ¡, Hughes (quien gracias a Crom es admirador de Spider-Man) evalÃºa muchas cosas, Sony sabe que hacer pelÃculas taquilleras cuesta mucho, la Ãºltima vez casi le costo las ganancias, el hecho que la trilogÃa de Raimi haya sido taquillera no significa que fuera color de rosas para Sony Pictures, incluso Hughes se va al extremo al predecir una posible fusiÃ³n o compra de Sony Pictures con alguna otra compaÃ±ia con lo que todo el Spider-Verse quedarÃa en manos de Marvel/Disney, asÃ que en conclusiÃ³n, no hay que desesperarse es muy probable que haya futuro para Spider-Man en el MCU, quizÃ¡s hasta veamos personajes del Spider-Verse en futuras pelÃculas de Marvel.