Sony and Marvel Studios’ Spider-Man: Far From Home swung into theaters this week to largely positive reviews and looks to be yet another massively successful entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with box office tracking suggesting that the Jon Watts-directed sequel will earn between $125m and $175m at the domestic box office during its first six days in release.
After the disappointment of The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Sony’s decision to lease the character rights back to Marvel has paid huge dividends with Tom Holland’s first solo outing in Spider-Man: Homecoming earning $880.2m worldwide, while appearances in Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame have firmly established the web-slinger as one of the MCU’s key figures.
That hasn’t kept Sony out of the Spidey business entirely, though; last year saw the release of Venom and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, the Jared Leto-starring Morbius is currently shooting and movies based on Nightwatch, Kraven the Hunter and the Sinister Six are all in various stages of development, while there’s constant speculation about whether or not the MCU’s Spider-Man will interact with the characters under the Sony umbrella.
Given Sony’s long history of mishandling the cinematic adventures of Spider-Man and their insistence on plowing ahead with their own Marvel universe, it can’t be ruled out that the studio will refuse to extend their deal with Marvel, especially when it turns out that Tom Holland only has one movie left on his contract
The actor initially signed a six-picture deal with Marvel Studios that allowed him to star in three solo Spider-Man movies and lend support in three other MCU projects, with Far From Home marking the fifth time Holland has suited up. The inevitable Spider-Man: Far From Home sequel will be the last contractually-obligated movie between Sony and Marvel and while Kevin Feige will be desperate to extend the deal, Sony may see the success of Venom and the fan-baiting prospect of a crossover as a reason to take Spider-Man out of the MCU and bring him back under their umbrella, knowing fine well there isn’t a thing Marvel Studios can do about it.