April 2003
Sony Caught In It's Own Web by Spiderman
Marvel comics, the legendary birthplace of numerous superheroes including the Incredible Hulk and the X-Men, is suing Sony Pictures Entertainment over a merchandising contract to produce Spiderman products.
The first Spiderman film starring Tobey Maguire was a box-office behemoth, taking nearly $1bn world-wide, following a trend created by Superman and the Batman films. Indeed more superhero themed films are reported to be in the Hollywood pipeline.
Marvel is alleging that the rich promises made by Sony in order to secure the lucrative Spiderman deal were entirely hollow, and the promised riches have not been forthcoming. What is more, Marvel has alleged that Sony has been creative with their accounts, and reluctant to hand over financial documentation that Marvel are contractually entitled to.
With the second Spiderman film already underway, Marvel is seeking to end the contractual relationship, preventing Sony from creating or releasing anything even vaguely spider related, after the completion of Spiderman 2.
A pre-trial decision has already been made to disallow Sony's request for a closed court for the trial. It may be prescient for Sony to remember the adage of the fly caught in the web; the more you struggle, the more stuck you become.
Briffa comments:
Sony is doubtless a vast company with all of its fingers in just about every entertainment pie you can think of.
Essentially this is a simple breach of contract dispute, and whilst it could end up being costly in the short term, it is unlikely to dent the coffers too much, with little lasting effect to their reputation.
The main effect may be on the trend of comic-to-movie superheroes, and whilst you may think that there are none left, with Daredevil, X-Men 2, Incredible Hulk and of course Spiderman 2, we should not speak too soon