Sony splits the big-screen ownership of Spider-Man with Disney thanks to a strategic gamble it made <a href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-mar-02-fi-13115-story.html” rel=”nofollow noopener” target=”_blank”>in 1998.
Brand New Day Rewrites Box Office History
The new Spider-Man film, with actor Tom Holland returning to the title role, set records on both Thursday ($72 million gross) and Friday ($169.8 million) It’s already the fifth highest-grossing film domestically for 2026 after one weekend and the only Sony title in the top 10
Among the 11 Spider-Man films released since 2002, the latest installment already ranks sixth domestically.
For Sony, the movie is its biggest title of the year and could help the less-known entertainment segment of the business portfolio.
In 2025, Sony’s highest-grossing film was “Demon Slayer,” ranking $18th domestically. This year, Sony has Spider-Man already climbing, “GOAT” at 18th domestically, and “Jumanji: Open World” releasing in December. This could put a bigger spotlight on the film and TV segment.
Sony will likely keep the Spider-Man film universe alive, as part of a long-running deal to keep the rights to the iconic web-slinging character.
How Sony Nabbed Marvel’s Crown Jewel
In 1998, Marvel faced post-bankruptcy financial troubles and shopped it characters around for film licensing deals. Fox, which is now part of Disney, acquired the film rights to X-Men and the Fantastic Four.
Sony grabbed the film rights to Spider-Man for $10 million, as reportedby blogger Trung Phan. The rights included 5% of film gross going back to Marvel along with 50% of merchandise revenue. That deal has since been changed since Disney acquired Marvel.
Disney now holds 100% merchandising rights and is believed to get a higher box office percentage for sharing characters across companies.
Since the 1998 agreement, Sony has released 11 Spider-Man films, which have grossedmore than $4 billion domestically and more than $10 billion worldwide.
While Sony’s bet has paid off significantly, the company may have missed out on what could have been an even better deal. Marvel tried selling the film rights to all heroes and villains (excluding the X-Men and Fantastic Four) to Sony for $25 million.
At least one Sony executive was against spending the extra money on anything outside Spider-Man.
“Nobody gives a shit about any of these other Marvel characters. Go back and do a deal for only Spider-Man,” Sony executive Yair Landau said at the time.
Spider-Man and the 3-Year, 9-Month Clock
Sony ended up grabbing the film rights to Spider-Man for roughly $10 million, which paid off in dividends for the company’s entertainment division.
Disney’s subsquent acquisition of Marvel put more pressure on trying to buyback the rights to the famous comic character. Instead, Sony used the film rights as leverage and negotiated a new deal.
Sony’s deal includes the film rights to Spider-Man as long as a new film in the franchise has production commence with three years and nine months and released within five years and nine months of the last film in the franchise.
This is why there are so many Spidey films and why Sony is likely to keep making films in the franchise to hold onto one of the best film bets ever made.
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