UPDATE [5:30pm PST]: Since the original news broke earlier, there have been a number of updates and conflicting reports. Variety seems to believe that talks are not completely dead in the water. Meanwhile, io9 says a Sony rep they spoke with has indicated that it may not even be a financing and profits issue at all but a disagreement over producing credits and negotiations are ongoing:

Since the first article by Deadline, Sony’s stock has plummeted for the day after news of the negotiations breaking down.

There’s still potentially some hope yet. No one knows what’s going on, likely not even a few of the people involved in negotiations. We’ll update you with more news as we get it.

The original article is below. 

ORIGINAL [1:44pm PST]: Bad news for Spider-Man fans and Marvel fans alike: It looks like Spider-Man and Tom Holland are officially out of the MCU.

Deadline has reported that talks between Sony and Disney have officially broken down. The two studios have been trying to reach an agreement on a new deal regarding their partnership, and it fell apart. As always, it came down to money: Disney wanted the financing of all future Spider-Man movies to be a 50/50 split between the two studios; Sony said no. Currently, Marvel receives about 5% of the dollar gross and that’s the deal Sony wanted to continue with; Disney said no. With the talks essentially dead in the water, unless an 11th-hour miracle happens, Marvel and Kevin Feige are out of the Spider-Man franchise and Spider-Man is out of the MCU.

Both sides have some footing here. Sony obviously doesn’t want to give over a large chunk of profit of its most successful franchise to another studio. Marvel, meanwhile, feels that they deserve to have more ownership in the franchise considering their involvement is what made it so successful in the first place.

The move is incredibly disappointing for fans. For many, seeing Spider-Man finally appearing under the Marvel umbrella alongside other Avengers was a lifelong dream come true, so fan outcry was immediate and severe.

This may eventually prove to be a case where Sony should have conceded something, but it’s clearly too early to say. Marvel does not need Spider-Man to be successful; the same can’t be said for Sony. But Sony clearly thinks they have a strong enough foundation with Spider-Man’s rogues gallery of villains to not need Marvel’s help. There was the aforementioned Venom and now the upcoming Morbius starring Jared Leto. Still, it’s a risk. Sure, Venom made over $850 million at the box office for Sony, but one movie isn’t a proven success or a track record. Feige, however, is inarguably the most successful producer in the world right now and the Marvel brand is bulletproof.

Can Sony make the same amounts of money if disappointing fans? Time will tell. Regardless, we’ll keep you updated.

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