Disney CEO Bob Iger Says, “Thank you, Sony…”
“He’s just a big fan, too…” Hardly. But Disney CEO Bob Iger was thrilled with Friday’s news – namely, that Sony and Marvel Studios had penned a new deal to keep Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).
On Friday evening, Iger tweeted:
Disney-Sony @SpiderMan feud ends. Kevin Feige to produce sequel!!!
This certainly warms my heart! Thank you @Sony!— Robert Iger (@RobertIger) September 27, 2019
Iger: Backing Black Panther and Captain Marvel
Iger, who is promoting his new book, “The Ride of a Lifetime” garnered many headlines this month as he revealed details about his relationship with Steve Jobs, George Lucas, and his rise at Disney.
The book also detailed some of the internal machinations of Marvel that threatened to put the hugely successful Black Panther and Captain Marvel on the back-burner.
However, Iger backed both Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige and the diversely-cast movies.
Business Insider reported Iger writing:
“I’ve been in the business long enough to have heard every old argument in the book, and I’ve learned that old arguments are just that: old, and out of step with where the world is and where it should be,” Iger wrote. “We had a chance to make a great movie and to showcase an underrepresented segment of America, and those goals were not mutually exclusive. I called [Marvel chairman] Ike [Perlmutter] and told him to tell his team to stop putting up roadblocks and ordered that we put both ‘Black Panther’ and ‘Captain Marvel’ into production.”
“Black Panther,” set almost entirely in Africa, was the first superhero movie to feature a predominantly black cast. “Captain Marvel” was the first Marvel Cinematic Universe movie to be headlined by a female character.
Both movies grossed over $1 billion worldwide. “Black Panther” was the highest-grossing movie domestically of 2018 with $700 million and is the 11th highest-grossing movie of all time. It won three Oscars and was nominated for best picture earlier this year.
Spidey’s Departure Disappointed Many
However, the Disney vs. Sony feud remained in the back of Disney/Marvel fans’ minds ever since the first deal to keep Spider-Man in the MCU fell apart in the middle of this year’s highly-anticipated D23.
But that’s all cobwebs now, as the new deal looks very lucrative for both sides.
Anthony D’Allessandro wrote for Deadline:
Photo: ScreenRant.com
Sony has agreed to the terms that Disney originally proposed for its participation in a third Spider-Man movie, whereby Disney/Marvel would co-finance 25% of a third Homecoming movie for a 25% equity stake. The deal also calls for Spider-Man appearing in one more Disney/Marvel movie.
This is also a big win for Sony here in continuing a series that will likely give it another $1 billion-plus-grossing film along with an 8% distribution fee or higher. Additionally, the deal keeps intact the creative steering of Disney’s Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige, who led two of the best and most profitable fan-pleasing pics in the Spidey film canon to $2 billion worldwide.
The third film is scheduled for release on July 16, 2021. Amy Pascal will also produce through Pascal Pictures, as she has on the first two Holland-led films.
Patience Is A Virtue
It took some time, but the fact that Disney and Sony came to terms isn’t so shocking. After all, it’s Iger who says patience is key in business.
Iger recently told The New York Times:
(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
When you navigate the sometimes tricky waters of a big corporation, there’s a need to be really patient. When it comes to managing a career, patience is extremely important because people set goals for themselves that often are unrealistic. It’s great to do that because you want to be ambitious, but you don’t have control of a lot of circumstances.
And when you set these goals and they’re not met, the reasons are beyond your control, it creates impatience and you then make career decisions out of impatience. That’s a big mistake. One of my bosses once said that just when you think nothing’s going to change, everything changes. And you reach a point where you’re not sure any opportunity is going to present itself, and the next day you come in and you’re — boom — smacked in the face with some huge new opportunity you didn’t even predict was going to occur. That happened to me a number of times.
Disney earnings – Photo credit: Drew Angerer/Getty Images
It just happened once more. Does anyone doubt that Iger had his hand in the deal? Yeah, me neither.
