Disney reportedly asked Sony for 25% of the profits on any future Spider-Man movie Marvel Studios worked on, not the 50/50 split as initially stated. Sony and Marvel Studios entered into a partnership to share Spider-Man in 2015. The original deal was simple, Sony paid for any Spider-Man solo film and received the profits. Meanwhile, Marvel Studios was given creative input on these films and allowed to use Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe for the first time. Tom Holland made five appearances as the character over the last four years, but Spider-Man: Far From Home could possibly be his last in the MCU.

His second solo movie marked the end of Sony and Marvel’s deal, which was extended after the original arrangement of one MCU film and one solo film. When the split was first reported, it was easy to understand why neither side wanted to agree to the other’s proposals. The early reports said Disney wanted to co-finance future Spider-Man movies and split the profits with Sony in exchange for Kevin Feige’s work. But, Sony reportedly wanted to keep the deal at its current place, where Marvel Studios received 5% of first-dollar gross. That is a huge gap to overcome, but recent reports contradict this and make it appear as though Sony and Marvel could secretly be on common ground.

After Deadline mentioned in their original report that Disney wanted a 50% cut on future Spider-Man movies, other outlets have chimed in as the days have gone by. THR stated that Disney was looking for at least a 30% stake in future films, which they say Sony rejected. More recently though, Variety reported that Sony president Tom Rothman was willing to give up as much as 25% to retain Marvel Studios and Kevin Feige’s input. Three days after their original report, Deadline is now back and says Disney’s initial asking price was also a 25% stake. This would only be for movies that Feige was involved in, though, but Sony reportedly didn’t move on the deal for months, leading Disney to ask for the 50% stake.

The moment that Sony publicly issued a statement blaming Disney for the deal falling through, it became apparent that this was a case of public negotiating by both sides. That’s what makes these multiple reports over who asked for what all the more fascinating. Instead of Disney wanting a 50% stake and Sony only offering up 5%, the most recent reports indicate that there is actually common ground at 25%. The question at this point would become whether or not these studios and those negotiating the deal will actually agree to do the deal at the 25/75 financing and profit split.

If this all was a very public negotiation over Marvel’s most valuable character, then to see it all play out in real-time is a rare insight into the Hollywood deal-making process fans don’t normally see. And, this all indicates that a potential reconfigured agreement is moving in the right direction. That doesn’t mean that Sony and Disney/Marvel will absolutely make a deal, but the outcry over Spidey’s exit from the MCU has been loud. Now fans will just have to wait and see if this offer of a 25% stake for Disney is put back on the table and ultimately allows for more Spider-Man movies to be made in the MCU.

MORE: Marvel Losing Spider-Man Would Be A Disaster For The MCU

Sources: THR, Variety, Deadline

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