Spider-Man: Far From Home (July 2, 2019) [ENDGAME SPOILERS ALLOWED!] (1 Viewer)

[Jake Lipson]

I don't think studios care about critics scores.

Of course they do. Studios want to make good movies. It is possible to have a hit movie that works with audiences that critics don't like, and Venom is evidence of that. If they have to have one or the other, they would pick the audiences. But if they made a movie that audiences liked that critics also liked, that would only help their bottom line and their overall reputation. I didn't see Venom because I thought it looked like garbage, and the critics reviews did nothing to convince me that I should see it anyway. If the critical response had been higher, I might have been willing to buy that ticket, but it wasn't so I didn't.

The last time Sony made a great live-action Spider-Man movie on their own was 15 years ago. I have zero confidence in their ability to do that now. Putting Tom Holland in Venom would not make me interested in seeing Venom 2; it would just make me less interested in seeing Tom Holland Spider-Man movies if they are diluted in quality and crisscrossed with stuff I don't care about, rather than maintaining his connection to the MCU, which makes his version distinct from his predecessors.

 

[Sean Bryan]

Also: am I the only one who saw the extended cut last weekend? I liked the new footage but it didn't really do anything to change the movie at all and is proof that you can add four minutes to any movie that already runs over two hours without making any difference. It's essentially the same as what the "Peter's To Do List" feature for the Blu-ray mentioned in the software forum sounds like. This clip Sony posted to YouTube from that "new exclusive short" is straight out of the extended cut (except for the first shot with "pick up passport" written out.)

In the extended cut, we see scenes glimpsed in the trailers of Peter picking up his passport and other supplies, and then the restaurant scene which was also in the trailer. Very little was not glimpsed before, although I appreciated the opportunity to see it in my theater's premium auditorium, where it hadn't been playing since before Lion King came out.

I enjoyed the added bits in the extended cut. Most of this will be on the home release as “Peter’s To Do List”, but it would be nice to have the option of watching it integrated into the movie as well. While it doesn’t “change” the movie, that little extra bit of Spider-Man doing his thing at the beginning is just what I thought the movie was missing. Spidey fighting/catching a bunch of criminals and making quips. They should have left it in the original theatrical cut.

 

[Sean Bryan]

This is too funny

 

[Jake Lipson]

I'd watch a Night Monkey movie for real...if it were part of the MCU.

In other news, Sony launched a contest where somebody can win the E.D.I.T.H. glasses -- presumably, access to killer drones not included -- as well as a poster signed by the cast and three separate retailer exclusive editions of the movie (which look to be Target's digibook with Peter's journal, Best Buy's steelbook and Wal-Mart's version packaged with a Night Monkey action figure.)

https://secure.sonypictures.com/movies/sweepstakes/ui/mp/spidermanffhsweeps/

 

[dpippel]

I watched this for the first time this afternoon and thoroughly enjoyed it. The first 45 minutes or so were a bit uneven, and I thought the film struggled a bit to find it's rhythm, but it finally did. Entertaining, well acted, and well done. Once again I was struck by Zendaya. She's just terrific with this character, and her chemistry with Tom Holland was very organic. Best MJ ever, IMO.

 

[Sean Bryan]

The Daily Bugle website is active.

Looks fun, but I haven’t been able to look through it yet.

https://www.thedailybugle.net/

 

[Sam Favate]

No link handy, but Variety reports that Sony and Marvel have worked it out, and Kevin Feige will produce the next Spider-Man, and the character will stay in the MCU. Spider-Man May also appear in Sony’s Spiderverse movies.

 

[Jason_V]

https://deadline.com/2019/09/sony-w...o-to-appear-in-future-marvel-pics-1202746497/

There's the Deadline story.

 

[dpippel]

Good news!

 

[Jake Lipson]

Whew.

Thank God that nightmare is over.

I wonder what MCU characters will be loaned out to appear in the third. It would seem that the Avengers (or at least, the remaining ones who know Peter) will have some involvement in the resolution to the cliffhanger from Far From Home.

This also makes 2021 the first year ever with four Marvel Studios films: Shang-Chi in February, Doctor Strange in May, Spider-Man in July and Thor in November, in addition to WandaVision and whatever else is happening on Disney+ then.

But...it's interesting to note that the announcement does not say that Jon Watts will be back to direct the third. I hope that happens.

 

[Jake Lipson]

In other news, a deleted scene form the Far From Home Blu-ray:

 

[Jake Lipson]

Deadline now says Jon Watts is in "final negotiations" to return as director. Apparently Sony and Marvel wanted to hammer out their deal before signing him.

https://deadline.com/2019/09/jon-wa...third-spider-man-homecoming-movie-1202746782/

Good.

 

[dpippel]

It's good to see cooler heads prevailing for once.

 

[Sean Bryan]

 

[Sean Bryan]

Tom Holland made a fantastic Instagram post about the news.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B264Zf5FoR6/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=embed_video_watch_again

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

No link handy, but Variety reports that Sony and Marvel have worked it out, and Kevin Feige will produce the next Spider-Man, and the character will stay in the MCU. Spider-Man May also appear in Sony’s Spiderverse movies.

From these early reports, it sounds like the deal is for one standalone Spider-Man movie concluding the trilogy that began with Homecoming and for Holland's Spider-Man to appear prominently in one Marvel Studios movie. It also sounds like they essentially split the difference between the terms of the deal that concluded with Far From Home and the terms Disney was seeking for an extension, with a 25 percent production stake instead of the 50/50 split.

This news makes me really happy. I'm actually more excited to buy Far From Home on Tuesday, knowing that the cliffhanger will be paid off in a manner that is canon inside the MCU.

I just hope Disney and Sony were really clear about what the expectations are going forward. If the plan is to continue this collaboration for many years to come, that's great and I would love that. But if this is a one-time deal to wrap up their collaboration, I hope the creative team responds accordingly and wraps up the dangling MCU threads before Tom Holland's Spider-Man gets sucked through a portal or snatched up by Madame Web and deposited in Sony's Venomverse.

I would strongly prefer the former, but the latter would at least leave things in a much better place than they were after Far From Home. I'd be very disappointed if this deal just kicks the can down the road, and we find ourselves in the same place three or four years from now.

An interesting part of Kevin Feige's statement. “Spider-Man is a powerful icon and hero whose story crosses all ages and audiences around the globe. He also happens to be the only hero with the superpower to cross cinematic universes, so as Sony continues to develop their own Spidey-verse you never know what surprises the future might hold.” That would seem to imply that either Marvel Studios is going to be more flexible about incorporating Sony's standalone films based on Spider-Man IP into the MCU going forward, or the terms of the deal include a plan to transition Holland from the MCU to the Venomverse.

Deadline is reporting that "there could be a 'call and answer' between the two franchises as they acknowledge details between the two in what is would loosely be described as a shared detailed universe." That sounds like a sort of compromise between two separate cinematic universes and the tightly integrated MCU, with a common shared canon and care taken not to contradict each other, but not a lot of crossover between the Sony characters and the Marvel characters other than Spider-Man himself. I'd be fine with that.

This also makes 2021 the first year ever with four Marvel Studios films: Shang-Chi in February, Doctor Strange in May, Spider-Man in July and Thor in November, in addition to WandaVision and whatever else is happening on Disney+ then.

I'm really psyched that we're getting another Spider-Man picture so soon. With Iron Man and Captain America out of the picture, it was a long stretch between Black Widow and Thor: Love and Thunder without an MCU movie headlined by one its heavy hitters. Two of the movies are trying to launch new subfranchises, while Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness sounds like a really interesting gothic horror mindfuck but not a four-quadrants blockbuster tentpole.

 

[Wayne_j]

I see this as both studios being able to more satisfactorily wrap up their film series. I see Spider-Man getting some kind of a conclusion in the MCU at the end of the MCU film.

 

[Jake Lipson]

It could be designed to provide a conclusion, or they could come back to the bargaining table in a couple of years after the likely smash success of the third film. It also depends a lot on where the next MCU film Spider-Man will appear in is chronologically. If his next Disney appearance is before the solo film, then that's more on the third film to wrap things up. If the Disney appearance is after the third Sony film, then the probability is higher that it could be used to springboard into something larger. We'll see.

In any case, it would be nice for all parties involved to clearly define what this is before these two films are completed. If this does end up being the end of the line for Spider-Man in the MCU before they transition him to the Venomverse, it's important for these films to provide closure and not end on a huge cliffhanger as Far From Home did. We'll see what they do. I'm not really interested in the Venomverse films (for lack of a better term), so I hope they keep him around the MCU as long as possible, but I'll take what I can get at this point.

The other question, of course, is how long Tom Holland wants to continue playing the character. He seems pretty enthusiastic at the moment, which is good. On the other hand, these two films (the third solo film and the one other Disney MCU appearance) will be his sixth and seventh movies in the role, which is way more than any other actor has had before, and by 2021 he will have been in the role for six years (since he was cast in 2015.) That's a long time for an actor to do one role.

Again, we'll see what happens.

 

[Sam Favate]

It seems to me that this kind of talk is premature, but I have seen this story from a few different sources already.

Marvel Reportedly Planning To Write Spider-Man Out Of MCU

https://screenrant.com/spiderman-mc...wLpJlGZCcX2317srP2bnn2QAoyWtGDY4cHZ2NQyuNDkRg

I tend to doubt this is true. I think Marvel will simply renegotiate in three years or so. Also, allowing the character to be used in Sony's Spiderverse will surely ease the tensions between the companies.

 

[Sean Bryan]

It seems to me that this kind of talk is premature, but I have seen this story from a few different sources already.

Marvel Reportedly Planning To Write Spider-Man Out Of MCU

https://screenrant.com/spiderman-mc...wLpJlGZCcX2317srP2bnn2QAoyWtGDY4cHZ2NQyuNDkRg

I tend to doubt this is true. I think Marvel will simply renegotiate in three years or so. Also, allowing the character to be used in Sony's Spiderverse will surely ease the tensions between the companies.

Yeah, I think that is a whole lotta bullshit.

Edited to expand on that: As typical we seem to have someone speculating and then emphasis is put on an incorrect (click bait) aspect of the speculation and it becomes a thing.

If there is anything to this, it is that with the CURRENT new deal Feige isn’t going to plan on leaving things hanging with the character. He’d plan on completing whatever arc/story he wants to tell with these two planned movies so that IF they don’t agree on another extension down the road (and they will be having that discussion when the time comes as happened here) we’d still have a completed MCU story (unlike what would have been the case now if the new deal wasn’t reached).

That is very different from “ending” the character in some official way as far as the MCU is concerned. That is what is bullshit. NEVER would Feige do that when there is the possibility of future extensions and future MCU Spidey Adventures. Why the Hell would be prematurely limit the story possibilities of what he has said is “the greatest superhero of all time”? He wouldn’t.

Considering that both parties wanted to continue with this cooperation (and the “split” has clearly been a very public negotiation on both sides) it is pretty certain that they’ll both want to continue with more MCU Spidey. Of course that’ll have to be “negotiated” again after these two films. With the future there is always the possibility of Disney someday buying the Spider-Man rights back, or the possibility of Sony Pictures being bought by someone else and either the rights reverting back, or if they don’t the new owner selling back to Disney, or the new owner being even more enthusiastic about cooperating with Disney, etc, etc... The point being there is no sense in limiting what can be done with the character in the future of the MCU by “writing him out” of it now. The sensible thing is to write him to a place where they can continue with new stories (college years) if the opportunity arises (which would be likely but not a guarantee) but if they can’t tell more of their own “MCU” stories the character won’t be left with some big, unresolved, dangling plot points.

And yes, more information is going to have to come out about what type of sharing is going to be happening between the “prime” Disney MCU and Sony’s “adjunct” Sony Spidey Cinematic Universe before we can really understand what some of the new information that came out yesterday really means. But I think it is clear that they have opened the gate for some type of loose connection between the two studios’ universes now.