There has been much in the news about Spider-Man of late, and it
is not just about his role in the whole hullabaloo surrounding the
cosmic super-villain, Thanos, wiping out half the universe in a
recent Avengers movie. Of more importance to us is the
issue of commercialising the intellectual property rights in
Spider-Man raised by the character's owners. Basically it comes
down to this.
In 1988 Sony acquired the film rights to the Spider-Man
character from Marvel Studios, a Disney-group company that owns the
comic book rights to the character. In terms of this deal Sony
retains the film rights as long as it releases a Spider-Man movie
every five years. The 2014 film The Amazing Spider-Man 2
underperformed, and in 2015 Sony and Marvel Studios entered into
what was regarded by the industry as a highly unusual agreement.
The companies agreed that they would in future work together on
Spider-Man films, and that Sony would pay a share of the profits to
Marvel Studios.
