After notorious flops like Madame Web, Morbius, and Kraven the Hunter, Sony Pictures CEO Tom Rothman has confirmed an all-new, rebooted Spider-Man universe is on the way.
Speaking to Matt Belloni and Lucas Shaw on The Town With Matt Belloni podcast, Rothman was asked by Belloni if the Spider-verse was "dead," to which Rothman responded: "No."
When asked if the studio would return to the universe, Rothman said "yes," and when asked if the eventual return would be "a fresh reboot" with "new people," Rothman said "yes" to both.
Belloni then asked how Sony's partnership with Marvel was going, to which Rothman replied "it's great." When Belloni suggested Sony had gone to Disney and said, "we kind of ran this into the ground, we need you to bring this back," Rothman disagreed with the characterization, then spoke more about the deal after Belloni pointed out "studios don't typically say, 'Here's our number one franchise, let's bring in another studio to partner on it.'"
"I can't take much credit for it. It was at the very beginning of my tenure and the tail end of Amy [Pascal]'s tenure," Rothman said. "But I think it was an extremely smart and mature decision by Michael Lynton and Amy Pascal, who are excellent, excellent executives, first rate. But the part that I quarrel with [is] 'run into the ground.' No. It's an $800 million movie. That's some ground!
"I think again, this was a question of opportunity," he continued. "Because, yes, first of all, Marvel's great, Kevin Feige's a genius, and I can talk about that in a second. But, it wasn't just bringing Marvel in to produce for us. It was actually [that] we were able to introduce the new Spider-Man with Robert Downey Jr. and Iron Man… connected to the narrative. So, it had big upside for us and it's been one of the great deals for both companies ever. A true win-win deal to the point where the third one just did… a billion nine."
Spidey will soon be back on our screens with Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which stars the likes of Tom Holland's Peter Parker, Jon Bernthal's Punisher, Mark Ruffalo's Hulk, and a mystery character played by Sadie Sink.
Brand New Day arrives on July 31. In the meantime, fill out your watchlist with our guide to all the upcoming Marvel movies and shows that are on the way.
